1. Historical texts, such as Records of the Three Kingdoms and Book of the Later Han record Hua Tuo as having been the first person in China to use anaesthesia during surgery.
22 Facts About Hua Tuo
1. 2.
Hua Tuo used a general anaesthetic combining wine with a herbal concoction called mafeisan.
3.
Besides being respected for his expertise in surgery and anaesthesia, Hua Tuo was famous for his abilities in acupuncture, moxibustion, herbal medicine and medical daoyin exercises.
4.
Hua Tuo developed the Wuqinxi from studying the movements of the tiger, deer, bear, ape and crane.
5.
The oldest extant biographies of Hua Tuo are found in the official Chinese histories for the Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of China.
6.
The third-century historical text Records of Three Kingdoms and the fifth-century historical text Book of the Later Han record that Hua Tuo was from Qiao County, Pei Commandery and that he studied Chinese classics throughout the Xu Province.
7.
Hua Tuo refused employment offers from high-ranking officials, such as Chen Gui, and chose to practise medicine.
8.
Hua Tuo was an older contemporary of the physician Zhang Zhongjing.
9.
The name Hua Tuo combines the Chinese surname Hua with the uncommon Chinese given name Tuo.
10.
Hua Tuo's mind was so adept at dividing up and compounding according to the right proportions that he did not have to weigh the different components of his medicines with a balance.
11.
Hua Tuo removed parasites, performed abortions and treated ulcers, sores and analgesia.
12.
Cao Cao, a warlord who rose to power towards the end of the Han dynasty and laid the foundation for the Cao Wei state in the Three Kingdoms period, was probably Hua Tuo's best known patient.
13.
Hua Tuo suffered from chronic headaches, which were possibly caused by a brain tumour.
14.
Hua Tuo wrote down his medical techniques while awaiting execution, but destroyed his Qing Nang Shu.
15.
The Song dynasty Confucianist scholar Ye Mengde criticised the Sanguozhi and Houhanshu biographies of Hua Tuo as being mythological.
16.
Hua Tuo is considered a shenyi and is worshipped as a medicinal deity or immortal in some Chinese temples.
17.
Hua Tuo offers to anaesthetise Guan Yu, but he simply laughs and says that he is not afraid of pain.
18.
Hua Tuo is later summoned by Cao Cao to cure a chronic excruciating pain in his head, which turns out to be due to a brain tumour.
19.
Hua Tuo tells Cao Cao that in order to remove the tumor, it would be necessary to open up the brain by cutting open the head, getting the tumor out, and sewing it back, with Cao Cao completely anesthesized in the process.
20.
However, Cao Cao suspects that Hua Tuo is planning to murder him, so he has Hua Tuo arrested and imprisoned.
21.
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Hua Tuo passes his Qing Nang Shu to a prison guard so that his medical legacy will live on.
22.
Hua Tuo's innovative anaesthetic mafeisan and supposedly used on Hua Tuo's patients during surgery, is a long-standing mystery.