A Milestone in Anæsthesia?

Abstract

Mention must also be made of the effect of the climate on the anaesthetist and his assistants. After prolonged exposure to high temperatures and high humidity, even the best men showed a loss of interest and keenness in their work and a tendency to general lethargy.Major R. P. Harbord asked what was the evidence for the statement that atropine disturbs the heat regulating mechanism more than hyoscine?Cases coming to operation in the forward areas with malaria were uncommon during the campaigns about the Mediterranean.Pentothal had been a useful anaesthetic for maxillo-facial surgery in some cases for it shortened the period befo,re intubation and minimized aspiration.

Antagonism of non‐depolarising neuromuscular block: current practice

“…It was necessary to use prostigmine in but one case’. In 1946 Gray and Halton [4] described a series of over 1000 patients to whom curare was given with no mention of the use of neostigmine.…”

Reversal of neuromuscular block in companion animals

“…In their classic paper in 1942 Griffith and Johnson indicated that physostigmine should be available as an antidote to d-tubocurarine (Griffith & Johnson 1942). In a later paper it was reported that physostigmine had only been used in two of more than 1200 human patients (Gray & Halton 1946). However, by 1952 the technique of reversal was in regular use in humans (Doughty & Wylie 1952).…”

Neuromuscular blockers during general anaesthesia

“…Patients were made merely weak and not paralysed while receiving a full inhalation anaesthetic. A few years later, in Liverpool, Gray and others introduced a technique whereby much less anaesthetic and much more curare were used, effectively paralysing all skeletal muscles, including the diaphragm 3. Intubation of the trachea and mechanical ventilation of the lungs were therefore essential.…”