Surgery to remove bladder stones
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Was the operation to cut out bladder stones described first in India or in the Greek world?
Independent discoveriesMedicine & health
Indian claim
The Sushruta Samhita gives a careful account of perineal lithotomy, cutting through the area between the legs to remove a bladder stone, including warnings about the risks.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- Britannica lists lithotomy among the operations described by Sushruta.
- Some historians note that the method Celsus credits to Ammonius closely matches Sushruta's and suggest Indian influence, but this is a guess.
Commonly credited to
Ammonius of Alexandria (c. 200 BCE) was called 'Lithotomus' for breaking and removing stones, and the Roman Celsus described perineal lithotomy in detail in the 1st century CE.
Evidence for the other claim
- The Hippocratic Oath (c. 400 BCE) says the physician will not cut for stone but leave it to those who practise that craft, showing stone-cutters already worked in Greece.
What historians and scientists say
Bladder stone surgery was practised in both India and the Greek world in antiquity. Sushruta's account is among the most detailed early descriptions, but a direct line of borrowing cannot be shown.