The Manifestation of “Gangrene” in the Hippocratic Corpus

We trace the early historical references concerning “gangrene,” specifically in the treatises of the Hippocratic corpus. The term “gangrene” today refers to the necrosis, or death, of tissues resulting from prolonged ischemia, bacterial invasion, and subsequent putrefaction. Apart from the name “gangrene,” another term, “sphacelus,” exists in the corpus, referring to similar decay. An effort is made to correlate cases of “gangrene” and “sphacelus” described in the Hippocratic texts and related bibliography. In this study we retained only references to “sphacelus” that have the same end points as “gangrene.” References to necrosis of the skull, the brain, the teeth, the jaw, the extremities, the ribs, and some resulting from “ulcers” were isolated. Their clinical manifestations, prognosis, and treatment are presented, together with general comments on the disease's etiology.