Hemorrhagic stroke historical perspective
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Sara Mehrsefat, M.D. [2]
Overview
Hippocrates (460 to 370 BC) was first to describe the phenomenon of sudden paralysis. In 1658, in his Apoplexia, Johann Jacob Wepfer (1620–1695) identified the cause of hemorrhagic stroke when he suggested that people who had died of apoplexy had bleeding in their brains.[1]
Historical perspective
- Hippocrates (460 to 370 BC) was first to describe the phenomenon of sudden paralysis.
- Apoplexy, from the Greek word meaning “struck down with violence,” first appeared in Hippocratic writings to describe this phenomenon.[1]
- As early as 1599, the word stroke was used as a synonym for apoplectic seizure and is a fairly literal translation of the Greek term.[2]
- In 1658, in his Apoplexia, Johann Jacob Wepfer (1620–1695) identified the cause of hemorrhagic stroke when he suggested that people who had died of apoplexy had bleeding in their brains.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Thompson JE (1996). “The evolution of surgery for the treatment and prevention of stroke. The Willis Lecture”. Stroke. 27 (8): 1427–34. PMID 8711815.
- ↑ R. Barnhart, ed. The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology (1995)
© 2026 MyEClinic – IFTM Institut für Telematik in der Medizin GmbH