Paediatric urology 1000 years ago.

In this paper we present a commentary on four books from the paediatric urology point of view; al-Hawi (Continens), R. fi Siyasat as-Sibyan wa tadbirihim, at-Tasrif and al-Qanun by the Moslem scholars ar-Razi, Ibn al-Jazzar, al Zahrawi and Ibn Sina who lived within the period of the ninth to the eleventh centuries. In these books the supreme abilities of the authors as clinicians and their role in the creation of clinical medicine are shown by: The presentation of the various pathological conditions usually starting with the complaint then describing the origin of the disease and enumerating the accurate signs necessary for diagnosis. Differential diagnosis between various conditions which produce similar complaints is precisely described. For example, retention of urine and different types of anuria, types of renal haematuria, dormant and moving renal stones and their precise localisation, renal or vesical pain and pain due to colitis. Finally, the methodical classification of the diseases according to the organs affected is discussed. The description of the pathology and the knowledge of new diseases was an important advance made by these scholars. From the urological point of view, spina bifida and its relation to incontinence was first described by ar-Razi and most of the diseases of the kidney and bladder can be recognized in the systemic classification of the diseases of these organs given by Ibn Sina who pointed out the psychological role in some cases of nocturnal enuresis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)