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When and How Did It All Begin? A Brief History of Intravenous Anesthesia

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Abstract

Among the first reports of the intravenous injection of drugs are those describing the studies of Wren and Major (Philos Trans R Soc Lond 1:128–30, 1665; Cirurgia infusoria placidis CL: vivorium dubiis impugnata, cun modesta, ad eadem. Responsione. Kiloni, 1667). They injected opium dissolved in water into the venous system of a dog, which caused it to be stupefied but did not kill it! Despite this observation made more than 350 years ago, the history of clinical intravenous anesthesia does not really become significant before the late nineteenth century.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, University of Oxford, Headington, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX3 9DU, UK

    John William Sear MA, BSc, MBBS, PhD, FFARCS

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  1. John William Sear MA, BSc, MBBS, PhD, FFARCS
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Correspondence to John William Sear MA, BSc, MBBS, PhD, FFARCS .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Anthony R. Absalom

  2. Department of Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Keira P. Mason

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Sear, J.W. (2017). When and How Did It All Begin? A Brief History of Intravenous Anesthesia. In: Absalom, A., Mason, K. (eds) Total Intravenous Anesthesia and Target Controlled Infusions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47609-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47609-4_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47607-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47609-4

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