Open AccessBloodletting from the Ankle Vein to Treat Sciatic Pain
Author(s) -
Missori Paolo,
Domenicucci Maurizio,
Currà Antonio
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
pain medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.893
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1526-4637
pISSN - 1526-2375
DOI - 10.1111/pme.12445
Subject(s) - medicine , bloodletting , phlebotomy , sciatica , vein , foot (prosody) , surgery , anatomy , literature , art , alternative medicine , pathology
The most renowned physicians through the Middle Ages\udand the Renaissance up to the Modern practiced bloodletting\udfrom the “sciatic vein” (saphena minor or small\udsaphenous vein, which runs behind or under the external\udankle) as a cure for sciatic pain. Here we review historic\uddescriptions of this procedure carefully selected from\udmedical literature in Latin language from the Middle Ages\udand the Renaissance and hazard a guess as to why\udphlebotomy of the sciatic or saphenous veins was conceived\udof as a possible remedy