Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Meta-Anal. Mar 31, 2019; 7(3): 77-79
Published online Mar 31, 2019. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v7.i3.77
Hepatic regeneration in Greek mythology
Niki Papavramidou
Niki Papavramidou, History of Medicine Division, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, PO 356, Thessaloniki GR-54006, Greece
Author contributions: Papavramidou N designed the aim and wrote the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Niki Papavramidou, PhD, Assistant Professor, History of Medicine, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, PO 356, Thessaloniki GR-54006, Greece. papavramidou@hotmail.com
Telephone: +30-2310-999136 Fax: +30-2310-999139
Received: February 6, 2019
Peer-review started: February 6, 2019
First decision: February 26, 2019
Revised: March 18, 2019
Accepted: March 24, 2019
Article in press: March 25, 2019
Published online: March 31, 2019
Processing time: 53 Days and 23.6 Hours
Abstract

The accurate knowledge of surgical anatomy, the amelioration of post-operative processes and the continuously increasing experience of surgeons nowadays allow the performance of severe hepatic operations (e.g., wide liver resections, liver transplantations, etc.). The success of these operations is even more assisted by the great regenerative ability of the liver. Greek mythology, being an important source of information on the beliefs, habits, and phenomena observed during antiquity, reveals that hepatic regeneration was well known to ancient Greeks and this natural ability was established in two tales: the tale of Prometheus and the tale of the Giant Tityus. The main concept of both tales, being the destruction and reconstitution of the liver, is almost the same. Both of the condemned were immortal and their liver regenerated in a night, providing thus, food for the eagles and eternal pain for the sufferers. In conclusion, the tales show that the regenerative ability of the liver was well known from early years and that the trust shown by the Gods in this ability, to cause eternal suffering is on a par with the trust shown by the modern surgeons in it, to assure a successful hepatic operation.

Keywords: Liver regeneration, Prometheus, Tityus; Greek; Mythology

Core tip: Greek mythology is an important source of information on the beliefs, habits, and phenomena observed during antiquity revealing that hepatic regeneration was well known to ancient Greeks. Τhis natural ability was established in two tales whose main concept was the destruction and reconstitution of the liver: the tale of Prometheus and the tale of the Giant Tityus.