Am J Nephrol. 1999 ; 19(2): 148-54.

Pre-Columbian medicine and the kidney.

PeÃ±a JC.

Medicine in Mesoamerican cultures began in the year 1500 BC and ended with the conquest and destruction of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1521 by Spain. Mesoamerica started with the Olmec civilization followed by the Teoitihuacanes, Toltecs, and Mayas and perished with the Nahoa Empire. The medicine used by the Aztecs (ticiotl) is undoubtedly the sum of all Mesoamerican medicine. The medical history of the ticiotl was recovered in the years that followed the conquest from the works of Bernardino de SahagÃºn and Francisco HernÃ¡ndez and the Cruz-Badiano codex. All these works describe the use of plants and herbs in the treatment of diseases, including, edema, urinary retention, kidney stones, and podagra. The Aztec doctors (titicih) were also well acquainted with innumerable diseases and were excellent healers of wounds and fractures. The works of modern historians confirm the theory of the ticiotl medicine and its application by the titicih and define the differences between the hippocratic-galenic medicine and the ticiotl medicine. The latter used a complex and philosophically elaborated medical theory based on the polarity cold/warm, different from the four-humor theory. They demonstrate that every culture is capable to understand and 'invent' the meaning of disease and its cure, even when it is different from our modern medical views.