List of medical textbooks

This is a list of medical textbooks, manuscripts, and reference works.

Pre-modern texts

Egypt

Plates vi & vii of the Edwin Smith Papyrus at the New York Academy of Medicine

• Ramesseum medical papyri (ca. 1800 BC)
• Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus (ca. 1800 BC)
• London Medical Papyrus (ca. 1600 BC)
• Ebers Papyrus (ca. 1550 BC)
• Edwin Smith Papyrus (ca. 1500 BC) - Earliest mention of the brain; the pulse; the role of the heart in circulating blood, but not complete circulation.^[1] It is the world's oldest surgical textbook,^[2] containing descriptions of the zygomatic bone, dura mater, cerebrospinal fluid, and nasal cavity.^[2]
• Brugsch Papyrus (ca. 1200 BC)

Greece

• Hippocratic Corpus (ca. 400 BC to 200 AD) - Contains many important medical treatises including the Hippocratic Oath.^[3] Compared with the Egyptian papyri, the Hippocratic writings exhibit an improved understanding of brain structure and function. It correctly attributed the primary control of the body's function to the brain.^[2]
• Galenic corpus (ca. 200 BC)
• De Materia Medica (Dioscorides) (ca. 50 AD)
• Medical Compendium in Seven Books (ca. 600 AD)

China

• Huangdi Neijing (ca. 300 BC) - Most authoritative Chinese source on medical matters for over two millennia.^[4] It contributed to the Chinese understanding of anatomy,^[5] and it continues to be used as an influential reference work for practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine.^[6] The book contains many guidelines and recommendations for the prevention of chronic diseases and micronutrient deficiencies such as beriberi, xerophthalmia, and goitre.^[7]
• Wushi'er Bingfang (ca. 200 BC)
• Shennong Ben Cao Jing (ca. 200 AD)
• Shanghan Lun (ca. 220 AD)
• Compendium of Materia Medica (ca. 1578 AD)

India

• Sushruta Samhita (ca. 300 BC) - Early description of cataract surgery.^[8] The Sushruta Samhita emphasizes the importance of anatomical structure and function,^[9] and it contains the earliest written description of the pedicled flaps.^[10] It was translated into Arabic during the latter part of the 8th century.^[9]
• Charaka Samhita (ca. 300-500 AD) - One of the fundamental texts of Ayurveda medicine, it was translated into Chinese, Arabic, and Tibetan languages.^[11]
• Kashyapa Samhita
• Bower Manuscript (ca. 400 AD)

Islamic Golden Age

A translated copy of the Canon of Medicine in Latin (1484)

• De Gradibus (ca. 800 AD)
• Adab al-Tabib (ca. 800 AD)
• Book of the Ten Treatises of the Eye (ca. 800 AD)
• Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah (ca. 800 AD)
• Kitab al-Taṣrif (ca. 1000 AD) - First surgical encyclopedia.^[12]

• Book of Optics (ca. 1000 AD) - Exerted great influence on Western science.^[13] It was translated into Latin and it was used until the early 17th century.^[14] The German physician Hermann von Helmholtz reproduced several theories of visual perception that were found in the first Book of Optics, which he cited and copied from.^[15]

• The Canon of Medicine (Ca. 1000 AD) - Described by Sir William Osler as a "medical bible" and "the most famous medical textbook ever written".^[16] The Canon of Medicine introduced the concept of a syndrome as an aid to diagnosis, and it laid out an essential framework for a clinical trial.^[17] It was translated into Latin by Gerard de Sabloneta and it was used extensively in European medical schools.^[17][18] It also became the most authoritative text on anatomy until the 16th century.^[19]

• Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon (ca. 1200 AD): First description of the pulmonary circulation system,^[20] and the first description of the presence and function of coronary circulation.^[21]

• Anatomy Charts of the Arabs (ca. 1900)

Modern textbooks

Anatomy

Gray's Anatomy (1918)

• Gray's Anatomy
• Gray's Anatomy for Students

Anesthesiology

• Practical Management of Pain
• Textbook of Pain - Most comprehensive scientific reference text on pain.^[22] The textbook's founding editors were Patrick David Wall and Ronald Melzack, who jointly introduced the gate control theory into the field of pain research.^[22]

Cardiology

• Hurst's the Heart

General reference

Reference guides

• Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment
• Goldman-Cecil Medicine
• Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics
• The Merck Manuals
• The Oxford Textbook of Medicine
• The Principles and Practice of Medicine

Dictionaries and encyclopedias

• Miller-Keane Encyclopedia & Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health
• Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary
• The Modern Home Physician

Handbooks

• Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine

National and international publications

• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) - Official publication of the American Psychiatric Association

• International Classification of Diseases (ICD) - Official publication of the World Health Organization

Internal medicine

• Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine

Oncology

• Abeloff's Clinical Oncology
• Skin Cancer: Recognition and Management

Surgery

• Schwartz's Principles of Surgery

See also

• List of medical journals

References

1. Moore, W. (16 March 2011). "The Edwin Smith papyrus". BMJ 342 (mar16 3): d1598–d1598. doi:10.1136/bmj.d1598.
2. Elhadi, Ali M.; Kalb, Samuel; Perez-Orribo, Luis; Little, Andrew S.; Spetzler, Robert F.; Preul, Mark C. "The journey of discovering skull base anatomy in ancient Egypt and the special influence of Alexandria". Neurosurgical Focus 33 (2): E2. doi:10.3171/2012.6.FOCUS12128.
3. Iniesta, I. (20 April 2011). "Hippocratic Corpus". BMJ 342 (apr19 2): d688–d688. doi:10.1136/bmj.d688.
4. "Huangdi and the Neijing". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
5. Loukas, Marios; Ferrauiola, Julie; Shoja, Mohammadali M.; Tubbs, R. Shane; Cohen-Gadol, Aaron A. "Anatomy in ancient China: The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon of Medicine and Wang Qingren's Correcting the Errors in the Forest of Medicine". Clinical Anatomy 23 (4): 364–369. doi:10.1002/ca.20979.
6. Curran, J. (5 April 2008). "The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine". BMJ 336 (7647): 777–777. doi:10.1136/bmj.39527.472303.4E.
7. Hesketh, T.; Zhu, W. X. (12 July 1997). "Health in China: Traditional Chinese medicine: one country, two systems". BMJ 315 (7100): 115–117. doi:10.1136/bmj.315.7100.115. PMC 2127090. PMID 9240055. The first documented sources of Chinese medical theory, the Huangdi Nei Jing ("Inner Classic of the Yellow Emperor") was written between 300 BC and 100 BC. It describes the diagnosis and treatment of a huge range of disorders and gives advice about healthy lifestyles, exercise, and diet which conforms remarkably well with current recommendations for the prevention of chronic disease. There is also accurate dietary advice about how to avoid micronutrient deficiency diseases such as beri-beri, xerophthalmia, and goitre
8. Roy, P. N.; Mehra, K. S.; Deshpande, P. J. (1 March 1975). "Cataract surgery performed before 800 B.C.". British Journal of Ophthalmology 59 (3): 171–171. doi:10.1136/bjo.59.3.171.
9. Loukas, Marios; Lanteri, Alexis; Ferrauiola, Julie; Tubbs, R. Shane; Maharaja, Goppi; Shoja, Mohammadali Mohajel; Yadav, Abhishek; Rao, Vishnu Chellapilla. "Anatomy in ancient India: a focus on the Susruta Samhita". Journal of Anatomy 217 (6): 646–650. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7580.2010.01294.x. PMC 3039177. PMID 20887391.
10. Ang, Gina C. "History of skin transplantation". Clinics in Dermatology 23 (4): 320–324. doi:10.1016/j.clindermatol.2004.07.013. The first written description of the pedicle flap is found in the Sushruta Samhita (ca 600 bce)
11. Menon, I. A.; Haberman, H. F. (16 August 2012). "Dermatological writings of ancient India". Medical History 13 (04): 387–392. doi:10.1017/S0025727300014824.
12. Ganz, Scott D. "Surgical Complications in Oral Implantology". Implant Dentistry 22 (2): 110–111. doi:10.1097/ID.0b013e3182886100. One of the pioneers in all fields of surgery, Al-Zahrawi published the first surgical encyclopedia, Kitab Al Tasrif (The Method of Medicine)
13. Rutka, James T. "Discovering neurosurgery: new frontiers". Journal of Neurosurgery 115 (6): 1053–1066. doi:10.3171/2011.9.JNS111038. Alhazen's Book of Optics exerted great influence on Western science.
14. Träger, edited by Frank (2011). "The Properties of Light". Springer Handbook of Lasers and Optics (2nd (n.d. ed.) ed.). Berlin: Springer Science+Business Media. p. 4. ISBN 978-3-642-19408-5.
15. Cavanagh, Patrick. "Visual cognition". Vision Research 51 (13): 1538–1551. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2011.01.015.
16. Osler, William (2004). The Evolution Of Modern Medicine. Kessinger Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 1-4191-6153-9
17. Koh, G. (9 December 2009). "The Canon of Medicine". BMJ 339 (dec09 2): b5358–b5358. doi:10.1136/bmj.b5358.
18. Shoja, Mohammadali M.; Tubbs, R. Shane. "The history of anatomy in Persia". Journal of Anatomy 210 (4): 359–378. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7580.2007.00711.x.
19. Barisoni, Laura. "Diagnostic Pathology: Kidney Diseases". Kidney International 81 (8): 715–717. doi:10.1038/ki.2012.4.
20. West, John (2008). "Ibn al-Nafis, the pulmonary circulation, and the Islamic Golden Age". Journal of Applied Physiology 105 (6). doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.91171.2008. PMC 2612469. PMID 18845773. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
21. Michelakis, E. D. (19 June 2014). "Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow". Circulation Research 115 (1): 109–114. doi:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.115.301132.
22. Rathmell, James P.; Hill, Bradley (June 2006). "Wall and Melzack's Textbook of Pain, 5th E-dition.". Anesthesia & Analgesia 102 (6): 1914. doi:10.1213/01.ANE.0000220485.92210.D3.