History of the development of the lymphatic system (part one)

Abstract

The history of lymphatic system research goes back to ancient times. Lymph nodes were likely first mentioned in the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt. Hippocrates (5th century BC) in the 5th century BC was one of the first to mention the lymphatic system. One of the first descriptions of what can be attributed to lymphatic vessels can be found in Aristotle. The Byzantine physician Pavlo Aeginsky was a famous surgeon who illustrated the tonsils and performed the first tonsillectomy, which allowed him to identify and describe infected cervical lymph nodes. Indian and Islamic medicine, especially Avicenna, gave interesting descriptions of lymphedema (elephant disease) due to frequent parasitic infections which are more common in eastern regions. Rufus of Ephesus, a Roman physician, discovered the axillary, inguinal, and mesenteric lymph nodes, as well as the thymus, in the 1st-2nd century AD. The first mention of lymphatic vessels was in the 3rd century BC by Herophilus, a Greek anatomist who lived in Alexandria. The Alexandrian school made significant contributions to the study of the lymphatic system stemming from the works of Galen. However, whether the structures described were lymphatic vessels is still debated. Erasistratus, during the dissection of a dairy lamb, showed that the abdominal arteries are filled with milk. Very likely, this is the first misinterpreted study of mesenteric lymphatic vessels. Based on the first observations made by the medieval Arab anatomist ibn Al-Nafis, the Spanish scientist and theologian Miguel Servetus, and the Italian anatomist Realdo Colombo, who described pulmonary circulation, and Andrea Cesalpino, who first introduced the term "circulation" in relation to the cardiovascular system, it was established basic regularities of the structure of the lymphatic system. In the middle of the 16th century, Gabriele Fallopio (researcher of fallopian tubes) described the vessels now known as "mammary glands". Based on all these discoveries, the Italian surgeon and anatomist Giovanni Guglielmo Riva was the first to present a graphic representation of the lymphatic system in two of his four oil paintings, which are now kept in the Academy of History "Arte Sanitaria" in Rome.