Cancer treatment by Greco-Arab and Islamic herbal medicine

Abstract

Islamic medicine, Arabic medicine, Arab-Islamic medicine, or Greco-Arab and Islamic medicine refers to medicine developed in the Golden Age of the Arab-Islamic civilization, which extended from Spain in the west to Central Asia and India in the east. In temporal terms it covered a period of roughly nine centuries, from the middle of the seventh to the end of the fifteenth century. Medicine was a central part of this medieval civilization. Famous Arab and Muslim physicians, e.g., Rhazes, Avicenna, Al Zahrawi, Ibn al Nafis studied and developed treatments regimes for cancer as well as most known diseases at that time. They described most types of cancers which were known at that time and suggested several therapies. This review is an eye-bird view on the ancient Arab-Greco and Islamic cancer diagnosis, herbal treatment and nowadays herbal treatment research.