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Category
Topics in gynaecology
Summary
Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area of obstetrics and gynaecology (OB-GYN).
The term comes from Greek and means "the science of women". Its counterpart is andrology, which deals with medical issues specific to the male reproductive system.
The word "gynaecology" comes from the oblique stem (γυναικ-) of the Greek word γυνή (gyne) meaning "woman", and -logia meaning "study".
The Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus, dated to about 1800 BC, deals with gynaecological diseases, fertility, pregnancy, contraception, etc. The text is divided into thirty-four sections, each section dealing with a specific problem and containing diagnosis and treatment; no prognosis is suggested. Treatments are non-surgical, comprising applying medicines to the affected body part or swallowing them. The womb is at times seen as the source of complaints manifesting themselves in other body parts.
Ayurveda, an Indian traditional medical system, also provides details about concepts and techniques related to gynaecology.
The Hippocratic Corpus contains several gynaecological treatises dating to the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Aristotle is another strong source for medical texts from the 4th century BC with his descriptions of biology primarily found in History of Animals, Parts of Animals, Generation of Animals. The gynaecological treatise Gynaikeia by Soranus of Ephesus (1st/2nd century AD) is extant (together with a 6th-century Latin paraphrase by Muscio, a physician of the same school). He was the chief representative of the school of physicians known as the "methodists".
J. Marion Sims
Mothers of Gynecology Movement
In the medical schools of the early nineteenth century, doctors did not study female reproductive anatomy, seen as repulsive, nor train in pregnancy and childbirth management.
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