Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Karl Köller (1857-1944) and the Discovery of Local Anesthesia

Abstract

This report refers to the long-known properties of cocaine. It also remembers personal data, and the professional and scientific activities of Sigmund Freud and Karl Köller. It presents Freud's researches on the pathophysiological effects of cocaine. It exposes the reasons for the harsh criticism of Freud's concepts. It describes the sudden, but conscious and justified, idea of Karl Köller to study scientifically the use of cocaine as a local anesthetic in animals and humans. It indicates how those pioneering studies, that culminated with the discovery of local anesthesia by Köller and two presentations in Vienna on the subject, were done. It also reports the first ophthalmologic surgery under local anesthesia. It shows the immediate dissemination throughout the world of the discovery that marked the beginning of regional blocks. It comments several documents corroborating the role of Köller in this discovery. And, finally, it mentions the numerous homages received by Köller in different areas of the world. COCLUSIONS: Regional block was introduced by Karl Köller in 1884, when he demonstrated the feasibility of performing painless ophthalmologic surgeries by using cocaine as a local anesthetic. Sigmund Freud studied cocaine extensively, but he did not have direct participation in this important discovery.

On Overcoming Barriers to Application of Neuroinflammation Research

“…A different and opposite historical example demonstrates the value of medical specialty support for the dissemination of medical innovation. In 1884 Sigmund Freud and his colleague Carl Koller were studying the medicinal effects of cocaine in Vienna [50,51]. Koller discovered that topical eyedrops containing cocaine could be fashioned into an aqueous solution that produced effective local anesthesia of the cornea [50,51].…”

“…In 1884 Sigmund Freud and his colleague Carl Koller were studying the medicinal effects of cocaine in Vienna [50,51]. Koller discovered that topical eyedrops containing cocaine could be fashioned into an aqueous solution that produced effective local anesthesia of the cornea [50,51]. On September 11, 1884, he performed the first ophthalmologic surgery using cocaine as a local anesthetic on a patient [50].…”

“…Koller discovered that topical eyedrops containing cocaine could be fashioned into an aqueous solution that produced effective local anesthesia of the cornea [50,51]. On September 11, 1884, he performed the first ophthalmologic surgery using cocaine as a local anesthetic on a patient [50]. Koller's preliminary report was presented by his friend, opthalmologist Joseph Brettauer, at the conference of the German Opthalmologic Society in Heidelberg on September 15, 1884 [50].…”

Overcoming bashfulness: how cocaine aided Freud to summon the courage to meet Charcot

“…Palavras-chave: Neurologia; coacaína; transtornos relacionados ao uso de substâncias was still a resident at the General Hospital of Vienna, Freud described the historical use of cocaine in its countries of origin, the pathophysiological effects of the drug, and its therapeutic actions 4,8 .…”

A topologia na psicanálise de Jacques Lacan: o significante, o conjunto e o número

“…Aparentemente, Königstein não dera muita importância à sugestão e, na volta das férias, Freud verificou que havia sido Carl Köller, a quem Freud também havia falado da cocaína, quem descobrira seus efeitos anestésicos, passando à história (REIS Jr., 2009). Contrastam, então, "não guardo rancor de minha fiancée pela interrupção" e "posso (...) explicar como foi culpa de minha fiancée por eu ainda não ser famoso naquela jovem idade" (FREUD, 1925a, p. 22), afirmações separadas de apenas algumas linhas.…”