Surgical cutting of both an artery and a vein, historically used as a bloodletting treatment.
From arterio- (artery) + phlebo- (vein) + -tomy (cutting). Combines Greek arteria, phleps (vein), and tome (cut). Historical medical procedure from ancient and medieval times.
This procedure sounds brutal because it was—doctors would literally slash open arteries and veins to 'let out bad blood,' which was completely ineffective but practiced for centuries because people respected authority over evidence.
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