%0 Journal Article
%T From Knife to Suture: An Outline of the History of Surgical Instrument Development
%A Lipka, Arkadiusz
%J Quarterly Journal of the History of Science and Technology
%V 2023
%R 10.4467/0023589XKHNT.23.018.17880
%N Volume 68, Issue 2
%P 135-173
%K history of medicine, history of surgery, surgical instruments
%@ 0023-589X
%D 2023
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/kwartalnik-historii-nauki-i-techniki/article/od-noza-do-nitki-zarys-historii-rozwoju-narzedzi-chirurgicznych
%X Despite the enormous progress in the development of medical sciences in recent decades, surgery is still associated with manual dexterity. The oldest surgical procedures were performed primarily with the hands, and only later with the use of tools that came up as a result of the adaptation of everyday devices. Scientific and technological progress, along with the growing experience of surgeons, influenced the evolution of surgical instruments, which changed both quantitatively and qualitatively. As in other areas of human activity, the most useful surgical tools have constantly evolved and have survived to our times in a form reminiscent of their most ancient precursors. Others, which did not work in practice, today are a curiosity and a trace which allows us to follow the development of surgical thought in the past.