[5] The surgery chapter of this work was later translated into Latin, attaining popularity and becoming the standard textbook in Europe for the next five hundred years.

[6] Al-Zahrawi's pioneering contributions to the field of surgical procedures and instruments had an enormous impact in the East and West well into the modern period, where some of his discoveries are still applied in medicine to this day.

The nisba (attributive title), Al-Ansari, in his name, suggests origin from the Medinian tribe of Al-Ansar,[8] thus, tracing his ancestry back to Medina in the Arabian Peninsula.

As a court physician, Zahrawi had access to the most advanced medical knowledge and resources of the time, allowing him to develop new techniques and instruments for surgical procedures.

In describing this important case-history he wrote:[12] A slave-girl seized a knife and buried it in her throat and cut part of the trachea; and I was called to attend her.

The first clinical description of an operative procedure for hydrocephalus was given by Al-Zahrawi who clearly describes the evacuation of superficial intracranial fluid in hydrocephalic children.

Not always properly credited, modern evaluation of Kitab al-Tasrif manuscript[15] has revealed on early descriptions of some medical procedures that were ascribed to later physicians.

[16] For example, Al-Zahrawi's Kitab al-Tasrif described both what would later become known as "Kocher's method" for treating a dislocated shoulder and "Walcher position" in obstetrics.

Moreover, the Kitab al-Tasrif described how to ligature blood vessels almost 600 years before Ambroise Paré, and was the first recorded book to explain the hereditary nature of haemophilia.

[17] Al-Zahrawi was, therefore, the first to describe the migraine surgery procedure that is enjoying a revival in the 21st century, spearheaded by Elliot Shevel, a South African surgeon.

The full text consists of three books, intended for medical students looking forward to gaining more knowledge within the field of surgery regarding procedures and the necessary tools.

[20] In the beginning of his book, al-Zahrawi states that the reason for writing this treatise was the degree of underdevelopment surgery had reached in the Islamic world, and the low status it held amongst physicians at the time.

By inventing a new instrument, an early form of the lithotrite which he called "Michaab", he was able to crush the stone inside the bladder without the need for a surgical incision.

In dentistry and periodontics, al-Zahrawi had the most significant contribution out of all Muslim physicians, and his book contained the earliest illustrations of dental instruments.

Catgut appears to be the only natural substance capable of dissolving and is acceptable by the body, an observation Al-Zahrawi discovered after his monkey ate the strings of his oud.

In "On cauterization for numbness", he declares the procedure "should not be attempted except by one who has a good knowledge of the anatomy of the limbs and of the exits of the nerves that move the body".

[33] In "On cauterization for pleurisy", he notes that the introduction of a red-hot probe into the intercostal space to evacuate pus from an abscess could result in the creation of "an incurable fistula" or even the immediate death of the patient.

He also invented a perfumed sticks rolled and pressed in special molds, perhaps the earliest antecedents of present-day lipsticks and solid deodorants.

Al-Zahrawi's influence continued for at least five centuries, extending into the Renaissance, evidenced by al-Tasrif's frequent reference by French surgeon Jacques Daléchamps (1513–1588).

6, which is preserved today by the Spanish Tourist Board with a bronze plaque (awarded in January 1977) which reads: "This was the house where Al-Zahrawi lived."