Anesthetics Through the Ages

ANESTHETICS THROUGH THE AGES 3400 BC Sumerians in lower Mesopotamia cultivated Opium poppy Papaver somniferum. 2000 BC Quick healing of Tracheostomy mentioned. Earlier recorded in Rig-Veda. 500-400 BC Herodotus noted the use of cannabis in The Histories - though not necessarily for medical use. 400 BC Hippocrates recommends the use of opium poppy for its pain-relieving properties. 400 BC Hippocrates suggests use of brew made from willow leaves (precursor of aspirin) to relieve pain of labour. Roman encyclopaedist Aulus Cornelius Celsus mentions 30 AD the use of 'anodyne' pills from opium poppy brewed with wine in De Medicina. Use of Inhaled anesthesia described using a soporific sponge that was soaked in opium, hashish and other herbal aromatics and placed under the nose of the patient. 1020s Avicenna, Persian physician, dies of accidental overdose of opium. 1275: Diethyl ether invented. 1525: Ether used on animals. 16th Century In Malta, surgeons knock patients unconscious with a wooden hammer. 1660s: 1827: First IV opium into humans recorded. Drug giant Merck launches its first product, Morphine. 1845: 1772: James Esdaile, an East India Company doctor, N20 is invented - but it takes 50 years to reach the dentist's office. performs the first of 73 operations using hypnosis as an anesthetic. 1799: 1884: N20 is suggested for pain relief and is called "Laughing gas". Cocaine first used as local anesthetic 20th Century: 1804: Synthetic drugs novocaine and lidocaine Early record of general anesthesia for surgery in Japan. replace cocaine in dentistry and minor surgery. 2012: Bandages go high-tech with Magic Vision Band-Aids, which cue a pain - distracting virtual Muppet performance when kids point their iPhone cameras at their scrapes and bruises. Sources: webhealthwatch.com asa.org.au rd.com ANESTHETICS THROUGH THE AGES 3400 BC Sumerians in lower Mesopotamia cultivated Opium poppy Papaver somniferum. 2000 BC Quick healing of Tracheostomy mentioned. Earlier recorded in Rig-Veda. 500-400 BC Herodotus noted the use of cannabis in The Histories - though not necessarily for medical use. 400 BC Hippocrates recommends the use of opium poppy for its pain-relieving properties. 400 BC Hippocrates suggests use of brew made from willow leaves (precursor of aspirin) to relieve pain of labour. Roman encyclopaedist Aulus Cornelius Celsus mentions 30 AD the use of 'anodyne' pills from opium poppy brewed with wine in De Medicina. Use of Inhaled anesthesia described using a soporific sponge that was soaked in opium, hashish and other herbal aromatics and placed under the nose of the patient. 1020s Avicenna, Persian physician, dies of accidental overdose of opium. 1275: Diethyl ether invented. 1525: Ether used on animals. 16th Century In Malta, surgeons knock patients unconscious with a wooden hammer. 1660s: 1827: First IV opium into humans recorded. Drug giant Merck launches its first product, Morphine. 1845: 1772: James Esdaile, an East India Company doctor, N20 is invented - but it takes 50 years to reach the dentist's office. performs the first of 73 operations using hypnosis as an anesthetic. 1799: 1884: N20 is suggested for pain relief and is called "Laughing gas". Cocaine first used as local anesthetic 20th Century: 1804: Synthetic drugs novocaine and lidocaine Early record of general anesthesia for surgery in Japan. replace cocaine in dentistry and minor surgery. 2012: Bandages go high-tech with Magic Vision Band-Aids, which cue a pain - distracting virtual Muppet performance when kids point their iPhone cameras at their scrapes and bruises. Sources: webhealthwatch.com asa.org.au rd.com