Nowadays, people describe a person's medical skills as highly timeless, and often say that it is "Hua Tuo is alive". Speaking of Hua Tuo, people are very familiar with him, he was a famous divine doctor at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and many difficult and complicated diseases could be easily solved in his hands. Even Cao Cao, a generation of tyrants, had great respect for Hua Tuo, only because Hua Tuo had solved the headache problem that had plagued him for many years.
However, due to the limited technical level at that time, although Hua Tuo used the method of "acupuncture" to alleviate Cao Cao's headache problem, this was always a symptom rather than a cure. Over time, the headache will recur. When Hua Tuo proposed to use craniotomy to completely cure Cao Cao's headache, he refused. Imagine if Cao Cao had agreed to open his skull, would the outcome have been different?
First, the symptoms are not cured
Hua Tuo has had a dream since he was a child, that is, one day, he will be able to hang the pot to save the world, cure the disease and save people. Therefore, when he grew up, even if he had the opportunity to enter the DPRK as an official, he was not interested in the slightest, had no attachment to the officialdom, and only wanted to go all over the world for his family, treat the sick and save people.
That's what he thought, and naturally that's what he did. Since he shaved the bones to cure the poison for Guan Yu, who was injured by an arrow, his fame has become bigger and bigger, and more and more people have come to see him. Among these many people, Cao Cao is one of them. At that time, Cao Cao was plagued by headaches for many years, and in order to solve this problem, he also found Hua Tuo.
In fact, Cao Cao's problem, from the current medical point of view, is likely to be migraine or trigeminal neuralgia. However, there were no instruments at the time, and it was impossible to detect the cause of his headache. So Hua Tuo used the "acupuncture method" according to his own experience to solve the problem of Cao Cao's headache.
But he himself knows very well that such a method can only cure the symptoms and not the root causes. Perhaps for a period of time, Cao Cao's headache symptoms have eased, but it cannot solve this disease from the fundamental problem. Hua Tuo also told Cao Cao the truth about this situation. After Cao Cao listened, he decided to leave Hua Tuo by his side and see him alone.
But as a doctor, Hua Tuo's greatest ideal is to hang the pot to save the world, so that he can become Cao Cao's "personal doctor", and he is a hundred unwilling in his heart. Therefore, he put forward the idea that he wanted to walk the rivers and lakes, but Cao Cao's side definitely did not agree, so he asked Hua Tuo what to do if he had a headache again.
2. Craniotomy
At this time, Hua Tuo, who could not take much care of it, told Cao Cao that his headache had penetrated deep into the brain marrow. To solve this problem once and for all, craniotomy must be performed to remove the "root cause" of the headache hidden in the brain marrow.
In the medical environment at that time, it was very difficult to perform craniotomy. Coupled with Cao Cao's suspicious nature, he believed that Hua Tuo's statement was that he wanted to put himself to death, so that he could completely get rid of him and complete his ideals. Therefore, Cao Cao resolutely refused.
In fact, the reason why Hua Tuo put forward such an opinion had a lot to do with the social environment at that time. Western medicine in ancient China generally believed that all diseases originated from the head. If you want to cure it completely, you must dig a hole in your head, so that all diseases will flee in a hurry.
Obviously, such a view is complete nonsense. Hua Tuo's suggestion is certainly not only for this reason. However, one thing is certain, he did not kill Cao Cao in the name of craniotomy.
For a doctor, the most important mission is to treat the sick and save people. Even if Cao Cao wanted to selfishly keep Hua Tuo by his side, Hua Tuo would not hate him for this. If he was really as Cao Cao thought, he was ready to murder him, then according to Cao Cao's power at that time, once he had an accident during the operation, then Hua Tuo would undoubtedly die.
Of course, from the medical level at that time, Cao Cao's refusal was not unreasonable. Even if Hua Tuo had already studied hemp boiling powder at that time, the craniotomy was unprecedented, and he naturally did not dare to take this risk.
Third, agree on the outcome of craniotomy
Some people say that if Cao Cao had agreed to Hua Tuo and performed craniotomy for himself, perhaps the result would have been different. In fact, this assumption is completely reasonable, and the results are no more than two. One is that if the craniotomy is successful, Cao Cao can live for a few more years; the other is that the craniotomy fails, and Cao Cao and Hua Tuo may both pay the price of their lives.
From a medical point of view, craniotomy was performed at that time, which may not be the best approach. Although Hua Tuo is known as a "divine doctor", countless cases have also proved that he was indeed a superb medical doctor and made outstanding contributions to the development of medical technology for future generations.
However, in the social background at that time and under medical conditions, the success rate of craniotomy was actually extremely low. First of all, Cao Cao only had symptoms of headache, and with this symptom alone, it was actually difficult to diagnose what kind of disease he was suffering from; secondly, if he wanted to undergo craniotomy, he needed skillful techniques and good cooperation, which were difficult to satisfy at the time.
Craniotomy is such a huge operation, once improperly operated, it is easy to cause wound infection, which will seriously endanger the patient's life. But at that time, the main means of disinfection was fire, which was too backward compared to the sterile operation in the current surgical process.
Once the nursing care is not in place, it is likely that Cao Cao will not come up and down directly on the operating table. In summary, if Cao Cao really agreed to do craniotomy for himself, then he would most likely have died directly during the operation.
Although this operation also has a certain success rate, the odds are too low. Even a famous doctor like Hua Tuo is difficult to complete such a large operation at a limited level of technology. Therefore, compared with agreeing to do craniotomy, Cao Cao's choice is undoubtedly the wisest choice.
summary
Hua Tuo proposed craniotomy, but Cao Cao suspected that he wanted to secretly kill Hua Tuo. As a result, Hua Tuo was executed by Cao Cao, and a generation of divine doctors died in this way. Compared with Cao Cao's cruelty, Hua Tuo's proposal is indeed suspicious. Blindly proposing craniotomy without determining what disease the patient is suffering from is a very irrational behavior.
In fact, whether Cao Cao agreed to do craniotomy in the end, perhaps it will not have much impact on history. Even if the craniotomy is successful and Cao Cao lives for a few more years, he still has to face life, old age, illness and death, and history will not be rewritten because he lived for a few more years. If the craniotomy fails, it is nothing more than that he and Hua Tuo lost their lives together, and it will not have much impact on history.