Research Paper on "Historical Significance of Anesthesia"

Research Paper 12 pages (3728 words) Sources: 20 Style: Chicago

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Anesthesia means temporary loss of sensation including pain. It is a Greek word, which literally means "to negate sensation." (Silver, 1957) the main significance of Anesthesia is its ability to provide painless procedures of surgery by causing analgesia, unconsciousness and amnesia in patients, subsequently it also results in undesirable suppression and relaxation of muscles. Combinations of drugs are required in order to achieve these effects quickly and effectively. Until the discovery of anesthesia, performing surgery and tooth extraction was an extremely painful procedure. Therefore, the significance of anesthesia is to relieve anxiety and stress in patients and making them comfortable for the surgery. Pain is an undesirable symptom which tells our body that something is wrong. Over time several efforts has been done to get rid of this symptom of pain. To overcome pain Chinese were known to use aqua puncture while Greeks and Roman promoted the use of Alcohol. Herbs were used in other parts of the world and finally these efforts led to the discovery of Anesthesia. Before the discovery of Anesthesia there was generally no respect for the medical professionals. Anesthesia played a significant role to provide medical practitioners their due place in the society. Previously the technique for Pain management was generally very crude and Brutal. Oliver Wendell Holmes an American physician and also a poet was the first one to give name "Anesthesia" in the year 1846. The respect and honor we see for physicians and surgeons today, giving them the title of Healers did not exist in Ancient time. Anesthesia is preferred over other drugs due to its property of being fat soluble. It allows drugs easy and quick passage through the cell membrane and producing its effect rapidly, making surgery a quick and safe procedure.

Attempting to administer pain-free surgery has been a dream as old as the ancient world itself

A. Pre-anesthesia, pain management techniques were crude attempts taken in order to fulfill the dream of surgery to be called as a painless procedure. According to Celsus who was a Roman Physician in 100 AD called the pain of surgery as torture "Now a surgeon should be youthful or at any rate nearer youth than age; with a strong and steady hand which never trembles, and ready use the left hand as well as the right; with vision sharp and clear, spirit undaunted; filled with pity, so that he wishes to cure his patient, yet is not moved by his cries, to go too fast, or cut less than necessary; but he does everything just as if the cries of pain cause him no emotion." The process of surgery and tooth extraction was considered to be brutal and therefore the surgeons were considered as heartless people who required to be strong enough to handle the patients in extreme pain. In older times several strong men were required to steadily hold the patient and the surgeon had to request the patient for cooperation and quickly conduct the process but due to pain the process became very difficult and often vomiting was aspired into lungs causing aspiration pneumonia. Even after inducing heavy doses of ether; process became very difficult and painful. Ether is a small molecule which was first discovered in year 1275 by a Spanish chemist who named it sweet vitriol, later in year 1730 the name was changed to Ether by a German scientist W.G. Frobenius and this name was kept until the early part 1800(Blatner,2009). "One elderly Boston physician could only compare it to Spanish inquisition." On the subject of surgery before Anesthetics. It was until 18th Century when some major advances in medicine took place. In ancient times surgery was an extremely painful procedure and was often hindered by the patients resulting into death due to disease which otherwise was curable by surgery. The surgeons in older times used herbs and plant derivatives such as marijuana, belladonna, jimsonweed and opium, some also preferred the use of alcohol and others used a blow on head to cause unconsciousness in an individual. These methods were not successful and did not cause a required aesthetic effect to carry out surgical procedure.

B. Before anesthesia the process of surgery was performed only rarely- According to annual report of Massachusetts General Hospital record from year 1821-1846, it showed total of 333 surgeries meaning one surgery in one month. (Sullivan, 1996). Surgery was simply considered as the last resort of treatment. An English scientist Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) carried out a discovery that by using Nitric Oxide pain might be relieved. Some used Carbon dioxide, while other injected cocaine into mouth, eyes and other parts of the body considering its effect to block the nerve impulses.

C. Before Anesthesia the medical profession did not have the respect it gets today:

During 19th century most of the medical practices took place privately at homes which increased the risk of infection resulting in sepsis. At this time doctors did not have much knowledge regarding the spread of disease and mode of infection therefore hospitals despite of being large were considered non-hygienic which affected the patients health during their stay in the hospital. Early anesthesia in the form of chloroform and ether contained the danger of Asphyxiation. There was also an increased risk of infection as antiseptic was not discovered in United States till the end of century (19th century Doctor within the U.S., 2009, Rose Melnick Medical Museum). Therefore, the patients and their family preferred to call doctors at home for treatment. In older times it was expected from a doctor to treat everything from tooth ache to a tumor. But with time the doctors focused on excelling themselves in specific fields of medicine and surgery.

When Anesthesia was discovered it was referred as the greatest gift ever made for the suffering humanity. The people who contributed to this Greatest Gift are as follows.

During the later part of 18th century an evident change and advancement in medical technology took place. Two major advancements took place during this era one was the identification of germ cell theory and second was promoting the use of anesthesia in surgery. Continuous research and development of new tools led to the major change and advancement in curing and investigating diseases. I was Horace Wells a dentist who introduced the nitric oxide in the field of dentistry (James, 2009). The combination of nitric oxide and Diethyl ether was being used by dentist to relieve pain but it became unsuccessful during a dental surgery on a patient at Massachusetts General Hospital. In the year 1846, using their idea Dr. William Thomas who was a Dentist at Boston, used a combination of nitric oxide and sulfuric ether to painlessly remove a vascular tumor from his patient's jaw (Medicine Greatest Gift, 2012, Massachusetts General Hospital) by using a specially designed glass container which contained a sponge soaked in ether. (Hoffman and Martin, 2012) This was the first public demonstration of ether anesthesia. Where students realized that surgical procedure can be painless which at first was not imaginable. He soon gained a lot of popularity among people. By the end of year 1847 pamphlets and books regarding this anesthesia were published in United States and in Europe and for the first time a safe and efficient anesthesia was made. Crawford Williamson Long (1815-1878) is said to be the "Pioneer of Surgical Anesthesia" due to his work and observation on using Diethyl ether as the anesthetic to carry out surgical procedure. He brought the turning point in the medical and surgical history when the doctors no more had to think about the pain of surgery neither getting scared from screams in the operation theater. The day of this discovery of a painless surgery is remembered as "Doctors Day." This was the day in the history, when an end to human pain was achieved by using anesthesia in surgical and diagnostic procedures. Crawford for the first time on 30th March 1842 used Diethyl ether to painlessly remove a tumor from patients neck subsequently he removed another tumor and used ether in childbirths and amputations. The observation and results of the following trails were published in Southern Medical and Surgical Journal. He died in Athens and his last words were "Care for mother and child first." For his work he is regarded as the "Father of Anesthesiology" (Hani, 2010). The use of ether became a cultural foundation for the anesthesiologist for its use in providing a painless surgical procedure; Thomas Lee of Boston in year 1868 established a monument in a public garden to deliver the message to people that inhalation of ether helps in causing loss of pain. (Conquering surgical pain: Four men stake their claims, 2012, Massachusetts General Hospital). It was declared publicly that "we have conquered pain." The next man who played a role in the discovery of anesthesia was Horace Wells (1815-1848); he used Nitric Oxide as anesthesia for his patients. But because of it being short acting it did not produce much favorable outcome. Nitric Oxide… READ MORE

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