Development of Thoracic Surgery in Iran

Historically, Hippocrates (460 – 377 B.C.) was the first physician who described the evacuation of pus from pleural space. Then, Galen (129 – 199 A.D.) wrote on the same procedure. In Iran, some renowned physicians such as Ahwazi or Haly Abbas (10th century A.D.), Razi or Rhazes (865 – 925 A.D.), and Ibn-Sina or Avicenna (980 – 1037 A.D.) had also mentioned the chest diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), pneumonia, and empyema in their medical works. Rhazes had described precisely a method for removing the fluid from the pleural space. During the middle decades of the 20th century, thoracic surgery was separated and developed in Iran as a branch of general surgery. Today, thoracic operations in Iran are performed by surgeons who are trained in chest surgery and the quality of care is comparable to worldwide practice.