I'm sure that you that are watching this video has already gone through a surgical procedure or at least know someone who has already gone through one. Can you imagine someone being operated and feeling all the pain of the act? This is absurd, right?
But it was common just over 150 years ago. One of the most important things invented in modern history is the advent of anesthesia and this is what we are going to see now, just after the intro, Bring it on! "THE HISTORY OF ANESTHESIA" What's up NAVE crew!
Today in this video of the course "Anesthesia Unravelled" we will talk a little about the history of anesthesia. The first concrete reports we are aware of related to the attempt to alleviate someone's pain, happened more than 4,000 years B. C.
, with the Sumerians. They would administer opium in a patient in order to relieve some pain. Obviously, this was not enough, but it was what was available at the time.
About 2,000 to 2,200 years B. C. , the Babylonians would make a kind of magic potion by mixing together several plants they thought had some power, even magical, that gave that feeling of pain relief for the people.
However, for a long time, nothing was done in order to alleviate other people's pain. Until the first half of the 16th century, the anesthesia techniques available were basically 'cerebral concussion', blow to the head, 'compression of the carotid arteries', the person passed out and then woke up missing a limb, or 'physical restraint', gathering there five, six, seven people, and the surgery would be performed. There are reports in history where a limb amputation was concluded in less than 30 seconds, basically with an axe and a hot piece of metal or a scythe.
Insane, isn't it? But it all began to change. In 1525, a famous doctor of that time called Paracelsus, who in fact wasn't only a doctor but also an alchemist, physicist, occultist.
. . some complex guy, for sure, he realized that a certain white fluid that he named "sweet vitriol" managed to make animals sleep, basically pigeons.
And this was the first spark of a possible anesthesia in human history. But, during a very long time, nothing was done, and so continued those anesthetic procedures that I told you about. Everything changed dramatically in 1800 with the British chemist called Humphry Davy.
He realized that a gas, which is actually nitrous oxide, offered a certain feeling of pain relief. He self administered it and thought it made things funny, so he named it "laughing gas". Yeah, alright, the Joker's gas is also the "laughing gas", but let's focus here on the history of anesthesia.
But he didn't take it too seriously, you know, he used it more for, let's call it, social recreation. Over the years, this nitrous oxide "thing" started to gain a little more visibility and an American dentist called Horace Wells started using this gas more often in his procedures, basically in dental extractions, and this started to gain certain notoriety, because people went there, he removed the person's tooth and the person basically didn't feel the act. It was then, in 1844, that Horace Wells sent a letter to the Massachusetts General Hospital requesting that he be able to demonstrate his experience, or his discovery, that later on would be called anesthesia.
In 1845, he was given his opportunity. The hospital's chief surgeon, Dr John Warren, called Horace Wells over to make a demonstration. There was the volunteer, and then Horace Wells started doing the procedure.
Now, what do you think happened? It went wrong, of course. He must have gotten a little nervous, did a little less than he was used to and when Horace Wells tried to remove the tooth of that citizen, the man screamed, howled, woke up and everything.
To this day, nobody knows if it was an euphoria from the situation or if he really felt something. But anyway, the whole problem is that John Warren told everyone present that that was a farce and labeled Horace Wells as a fraud. This was terrible because this guy got very angry, he knew that his thing worked, but it went wrong, as sometimes happens in practical classes.
However, there was a guy, who was Wells' student, called William Thomas Green Morton. This guy knew that this thing worked, but that something happenned there that resulted in a problem. They had a certain economic partnership because they were thinking about, maybe, patenting this gas to make money later on, but according to history, Horace Wells was quite hard to deal with and then, quickly, their society fell apart.
Thomas Green Morton got very troubled by the whole situation, he knew that this thing worked and it was the right way to go, but that maybe he would need to change the drug. It was then that a very important person entered this process of the discovery of anesthesia. His Chemistry professor, called Charles Jackson, came to him and said 'man, I think you should test it with ether, maybe ether will be better in this situation'.
So then, Thomas Green Morton started testing ether on his dog, on himself, and realized that they passed out and came back to their senses right after. So, he started studying this a little better. One year later, in 1846, he sent a document to the same university that Horace Wells had his fatidical experience, asking to test his discovery.
Then, on October 16th 1846, William Thomas Green Morton had the opportunity of his life. At the exact same place of Horace Wells' fatidical experience, there he was, next to the chief surgeon, Dr John Warren, and a patient with a cervical tumor. Everyone believed it would fail yet again, but people were there nonetheless to watch the outcome.
Dr John Warren told Green Morton 'Doctor, the patient is all yours'. Thomas Green Morton started supplying ether to the patient and a few minutes later, Green Morton returned his own phrase back to the chief surgeon 'Doctor, the patient is ready, he's yours. ' and this surgery happened and, after the surgery, the patient regained consciousness and told everyone he felt nothing.
On that moment, the chief surgeon looked at the whole audience and announced 'Gentlemen, we are not facing a farce' and then anesthesia was discovered. That moment was so important that the painter Robert Hinckley immortalized it in one of his paintings. Hold on!
Where's the little tube that carries ether to the person's nose? Never mind. After that, I'm sure you can imagine how famous Thomas Green Morton became, known as the 'father of anesthesia' and, as he became increasingly famous, Horace Wells fell into a great decadence.
Already slightly depressed and on edge, he started to get addicted to chloroform, such is life, isn't it? Afterwards, chloroform was the one turned into an inhalant anesthetic agent, but not the nitrous oxide that he used but anyway, one day, he mustn't have been on his right mind, he took to the streets, threw sulfuric acid on the prostitutes and was arrested. Two or three days later, when he came to his senses and realized was he had done, he got extremely ashamed, acquired a scalpel and took his own life, by hemorrhage, sectioning his femoral arteries.
Tragic story of Horace Wells. After the discovery of anesthesia, things evolved surprisingly fast. One year later, Dr Edward Mayhill started to use ether and chloroform in the anesthesia of dogs and cats One year later, in 1848, it was recorded the first anesthesia in a horse, performed at the London Veterinary College.
Perhaps the first Veterinary Anesthetist has been Dr George Dadd. In 1852, there are reports that he performed anesthesia in dogs and cats with ether and chloroform. Moving along a bit, in 1972, the french doctor Pierre Oré administered the first injectable anesthetic, chloral hydrate.
Soon after, in 1788, he used cocaine as a local anesthetic. Skipping now to South America, the first report of anesthesia in our continent was performed by an Argentine. Argentine.
. . the guys have Jorge Spitz, the pope.
. . but we have Pelé.
Moving along. . .
Jorge Spitz made several reports on anesthesia, mainly with horses. The first steps of veterinary anesthesia in Brazil occurred in 1946, with professor Ernesto Matera from the 'Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária' of USP. On that year, the professor published the first work entitled 'Contribution to the study of intravenous anesthesia by thionembutal in the dog' in co-authorship with professor José Tabarelli Neto.
After that, basically, four institutions got attention with focus on anesthesia. Among them the 'Universidade de Sao Paulo', the 'Universidade Federal of do Parana' in Curitiba, the 'Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais' in Belo Horizonte and the 'Escola Fluminense de Medicina Veterinaria' in Rio de Janeiro. An important fact that should be highlighted is that, in 1964, Dr Edson Rojas performed the first volatile anesthesia in a horse in Brazil.
This happened at the Jockey Club of Sao Paulo Then, we got into the 70s, and a very important person in the area of veterinary anesthesiology began pioneering this area in our country. It was the Professor Flávio Massone, from the 'Universidade Estadual Paulista', in Botucatu. Professor Flávio Massone deserves a special highlight because he really was the one responsible for disseminating the anesthesiology in our country.
He wrote his first book in 1988, which is already at its 7th edition. Guys, can you imagine that a little over 150 years ago nothing of this existed? Surreal, isn't it?
Right now, we don't want to simply anesthetize the patient, leaving it sleeping during the surgery. We look for anesthetic protocols that allow for the maintenance of stable physiological parameters, little to none surgical stimulation and that has trans and postoperative analgesia, thus, achieving a balanced anaesthesia. If you liked this video, give it a 'like', share and also, subscribe to our channel.
If you want to learn a little more about the history of anaesthesiology, I suggest consulting one of these links here in the description that have very interesting content. See you next time!
