Antyllus

Antyllus was a Greek surgeon who lived in the 2nd century AD in Rome, in the same era as Galen. While Galen dominated the wider field of medicine, Antyllus is remembered for excelling in surgery, and above all for his treatment of aneurysms, for which he described the different types and set out a classification based on how likely each lesion was to rupture. His own writings have been lost, but parts of his work survive in the later writings of Oribasius and Paul of Aegina. Through them he is known to have left specific instructions for a number of operations, listing the indications and contraindications and describing the complications that could follow. His operation for aneurysm remained the standard procedure until the 19th century. He is also said to have devised a suction method for removing cataracts, and Paul of Aegina cites him on the procedure now called tracheotomy.