Abstract
Aim
The purpose of our study was to search the evaluation of local anaesthesia in the 19th century in Greece.
Method
We studied publications related to local anaesthesia in this specific period of time.
Results
Up until 1880, topical anaesthesia was applied with chloroform, phenic acid and ether. In Heidelberg in 1884, the 16th Congress of German Ophthalmologic Association was to constitute a milestone in local anaesthesia in announcing the local anaesthetic properties of cocaine. In 1885, “Galenos” published a study on cocaine use in local anaesthesia and in obstetric analgesia. The same year, “Galenos” described the removal of a polyp of vocal cords, using cocaine as local anaesthesia, and gave a retrospective history of cocaine. It also published a comparative study between cocaine and menthol. In 1886, it reported a study of salt pit cocaine and its uses in surgery, urology and gynaecology, which proceeded to analyze the side effects of cocaine. In 1891, Theodoros Afentoulis includes an extended chapter in “Pharmacology” with reference to cocaine, its characteristics and uses. At Areteio Hospital in 1900, Julius Galvanis administered the first subarachnoid anaesthesia with cocaine, later replaced by stovocaine.
Conclusion
The transfer of knowledge from abroad as concerns the anaesthetic properties of cocaine was rapid and led to its extensive use in local anaesthesia in Greece.
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Papadopoulos, G., Papathanakos, G., Zylis, G. et al. The period in greece following the discovery of the local anaesthetic properties of cocaine. Hellenic J Surg 86, 203–207 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13126-014-0130-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13126-014-0130-0