Anesthesia and World War II: When the Battlefield Becomes a Research Field—A Bibliometric Analysis of the Influence of World War II on the Development of Anesthesiology

Abstract

At the outbreak of World War II (WWII), anesthesiology was struggling to establish itself as a medical specialty. The battlefield abruptly exposed this young specialty to the formidable challenge of mass casualties, with an urgent need to provide proper fluid resuscitation, airway management, mechanical ventilation, and analgesia to thousands. But while Europe was suffering under the Nazi boot, anesthesia was preparing to rise to the challenge posed by the impending war. While war brings death and destruction, it also opens the way to medical advances. The aim of this

Anesthesia in the Korean War

“…These advances were due to the invention of new laryngoscope blades and endotracheal tubes, and the introduction of muscle relaxants. 37,38…”

“…Anesthetic care in Korea could have benefitted from knowledge discovered during World War II, which was widely available in the contemporary literature. 37 Dripps and others still recognized multiple areas for improvement in training, hardware, and standardization. 35 Partly resulting from the experience in the Korean War, the US Army established its first, 2-year, military anesthesia residency in 1954 in an effort to raise the number of qualified anesthesiologists in uniform.…”

“…These advances were due to the invention of new laryngoscope blades and endotracheal tubes, and the introduction of muscle relaxants. 37,38 However, during the Korean War, we found that only 684 of 3328 (20.6%) patients undergoing general anesthesia were intubated. As evident from Figure 3, in most cases, providers utilized other means to monitor and ensure breathing such as manual intermittent mask ventilation.…”