Antiquity The Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus, dated to about 1800 BC, deals with gynaecological diseases,
fertility, pregnancy and
contraception. The text is divided into thirty-four parts, each dealing with a specific problem and containing
diagnosis and treatment; no
prognosis is suggested. Treatments are non-surgical, consisting of applying medicines to the affected body part or delivering medicines orally. During this time, the
womb was sometimes seen as the source of problems manifesting in other body parts.
Ayurveda, an Indian traditional medical system, also provides details about concepts and techniques related to gynaecology, addressing fertility, childbirth complications, and menstrual disorders amongst other things. The Hippocratic Corpus contains several gynaecological treatises dating to the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Aristotle is another source for medical texts from the 4th century BC
. The
gynaecological treatise
Gynaikeia by
Soranus of Ephesus (1st/2nd century AD) is extant (together with a 6th-century
Latin paraphrase by
Muscio, a physician of the same school). He was the chief representative of the school of physicians known as the "
methodists".
Middle ages and renaissance period During the
Middle Ages,
midwives dominated women's health concerns through experienced-based knowledge, traditional remedies, and herbal medicines. Midwifery was often regarded as unscientific and was challenged with the rise of gynaecology as an official medical field. The
Renaissance period, 16th century, brought about a resurgence of classical scientific advancements, including the rise of medical advancements in the field of gynaecology and obstetrics. Figures like
Ambroise Pare were imperative in improving obstetrics techniques during this period.
Peter Chamberlen developed the forceps, an important surgical tool that transformed childbirth and lessened maternal mortality.
18th, 19th and 20th centuries As medical institutions continued to expand in the 18th-19th centuries, the authority of midwives was challenged by men who dominated medical professions. The formalization of midwifery training by male doctors and advancements in medical knowledge of women's health and anatomy occurred during this period. Figures such as
William Smellie,
William Hunter,
Paul Zweifel, Franz Karl Naegele, and
Carl Crede contributed to the understanding of childbirth and women's health in Europe. J. Marion Sims is regarded as the father of modern gynaecology. Some of his published medical contributions included the development of the
Sims' position (1845), the Sims' speculum (1845), the Sims' sigmoid catheter, and gynaecological surgery. He was the first to develop surgical techniques for the repair of
vesico-vaginal fistulas (1849), a consequence of protracted childbirth which at the time was without treatment. He founded the first women's hospital in the country in Alabama 1855 and subsequently the
Woman's Hospital of New York in 1857. He was elected president of the
American Medical Association in 1876. Sims conducted experimental operations on black enslaved women, without
anaesthesia. Historically, white women were also subjected to experimental medical procedures. In terms of common procedures within gynaecology, the first
hysteroscopy was completed in 1869 by Pantaleoni, to treat an endometrial polyp, using a
cystoscope. Obstetrics and gynaecology were recognized as specialties in the mid-19th century, in the United Kingdom. Specialist societies came into being but it became clear that to become disciplines in their own right, a separate college was required.
William Fletcher Shaw (Professor of Midwifery at Manchester University) and
William Blair-Bell (Professor of Obstetrics at Liverpool University) worked to establish The British College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1929, this later became the
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Georgios Papanikaou, from Greece, is credited with discovering the pap smear test, he identified differences in the cytology of normal and
malignant cervical cells by viewing swabs smeared on microscopic slides. His first publication of the finding in 1928 was not widely received. He later collaborated with Dr Herbert Traut at an American hospital and they published a book, Diagnosis of Uterine Cancer by the Vaginal Smear and this medical advancement became more widely known about. By the 20th century, the
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (1951) was founded. There were advances in antiseptic techniques, anaesthesia, and diagnostic tools, which transformed gynaecological care. Minority groups in the United States experienced forced sterilizations and eugenic policies. Between 1909 and 1979, an estimated 20,000 forced sterilizations occurred in one state, primarily in mental institutions and prisons. Healthcare later became more focused on the importance of
informed consent. In Canada during the 1940's, practitioners focused on obstetrics and gynaecology began identifying the need for a separate organization to deal with this specialism and the idea to form the
Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) was conceived. The
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons formally recognized obstetrics & gynaecology in 1957. .
Ian Donald, a gynaecologist from the United Kingdom was an early pioneer of the use of sonography within gyneacology and obstetrics. He gained knowledge of radar technology in the air force and working with an engineer called Tom Brown and an engineering company, they developed a compact 2D ultrasound machine. In 1958, he published a paper in the Lancet.
Birth control trials Margaret Sanger worked to make contraception legal and available. In 1951 she met
Gregory Pincus and in a project that was financially sponsored by
Katharine McCormick, they developed the contraceptive pill. Larger clinical trials took place in
Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States. Puerto Rico had no anti-birth control laws and already had services offering birth control. Trials began in Rio Piedras in 1956, and women were offered the pill, called Envoid in 1960, on the basis it prevented pregnancy, without knowing it did not have FDA approval. Three women died in the trial and criticisms include that side effects were not taken seriously. Dr.
Edris Rice-Wray, a professor at the Puerto Rico Medical School raised concerns about the negative side effects of the pill. ==Diagnosis==