Fig.1: CXR (posteroanterior) of the heart showing a nail which appears to go through the 8th costal cartilage to the heart.

Fig.2: 2DE shows resolution of pericardial fluid.

For thousands of years, frankincense has been celebrated for its fragrance and it is used in incense as well as in perfumes. Its use as a remedy for various conditions is less known. The gum was chewed to freshen-up breath and the granule sucked to relieve nausea. Ibn Sina, known to the West as Avicenna (980 – 1037 A.D.), recommended using frankincense in treatments for tumors, ulcers, vomiting, dysentery, and fever. Western herbalists regard frankincense essential oil as an anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, and astringent, and say it is useful as a uterine tonic during pregnancy and labor.
In the ancient world, frankincense was more expensive than gold. The insatiable demand for it in Europe, particularly Greece and Rome, fueled the lucrative frankincense trade that in antiquity made southern Arabia (Yemen) the richest place on earth. Greek and Latin authors wrote of an Arabia redolent with spices and aromatics. The Romans referred to south Arabia as “Arabia Felix” (Happy Arabia). The trade in frankincense flourished for centuries. The zenith of this aromatic heritage is long past, but traces can be found in Arabian souks where frankincense is still sold as an expensive commodity. But today, little frankincense leaves Arabia.
Frankincense is crystalloid tree sap – a hardened gum or resin by a small tree (Boswellia sacra) that grows in the coastal regions of the southern Arabian Peninsula and nearby coastal east Africa. The resin is also known as olibanum, which is derived from the Arabic al-luban (roughly translated: “that which results from milking”), a reference to the milky sap tapped from the Boswellia tree.
Arabian frankincense is the best and the tree – Boswellia sacra – is indigenous to Oman and Yemen.
Yemen was the original home of frankincense where the GHA held its fifth Cardiovascular Conference in the capital Sana'a in April 2008. The major topic discussed in the conference was the final result of the Gulf Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GULF RACE). (see pages 28-46).

Rachel Hajar, M.D.