Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2017
Biography Historical ArticleNegative or positive? The iron lung and poliomyelitis-Zurich, 1951.
During the poliomyelitis epidemics of the last century hospitals were inundated with patients in acute respiratory failure. Between 1946 and 1949, Nandor (Ferdinand) Eichel documented the use of the iron lung in children with acute poliomyelitis at the University Children's Hospital, Zurich. The aim was to assess the effectiveness of the Iron lung and negative pressure respiratory support for this indication and to establish its role in the context of other existing therapies at the time. ⋯ N. Eichel and an update on the current status of poliomyelitis. The original dissertation was found in the home of Nandor's son and was of great interest to the current authors, Nandor's granddaughter and her colleague.