Ascites overview
|
Ascites Microchapters |
|
Diagnosis |
|---|
|
Treatment |
|
Case Studies |
|
Ascites overview On the Web |
|
American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Ascites overview |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief:
Overview
Historical Perspective
About 20 BC, Aulus Cornelius Celsus (A.D. 30), a Roman encyclopedist explained in his book "De Medicina" three different types of fluid accumulation under the skin; which was called hydrops by Greeks. Celsus postulated that ascites is mostly secondary to quartan fever (malaria) in Rome. The principles of treatment for ascites were explained as thirst, rest, and abstinence. Drinking less fluid and sweating more, not with exercise, but with heated sand, or in the sweating-room, or with a dry oven and such- like were the other alternative therapies. In 1827, Ludwig van Beethoven involved in ascites and underwent large volumes of paracenteses. His physician write about him as "Beethoven had almost immediate relief, and when he saw the stream of water [during paracentesis], cried out that the operation made him think of Moses, who struck the rock with his staff and made the water gush forth."