Bulletin of anesthesia history
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Biography Historical Article
First use of halothane in the United States, C. Ronald Stephen, M.D. (1916-2006).
Anesthesia is one of the most valued discoveries in all of history. Almost immediately after the first public demonstration of ether anesthesia, a search for a better drug began. Ether, despite its flammability, persisted as the primary inhalation agent for over a hundred years. ⋯ My review of the documents and writings of the three confirm that Dr. C. Ronald Stephen of Duke University was indeed the first to use and publish on halothane anesthesia in the USA.
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Modern accounts of the introduction of ether anesthesia in France are mainly based on a letter written in February 1947 to the editor of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal by Francis Willis Fisher, a young Boston surgeon at that time a student in Paris. Fisher's letter hints that his efforts were the main impetus to the acceptance of ether by the French academic surgeons. The authors have reviewed the contemporary medical literature, especially the numerous French journals, relative to that event. ⋯ Fisher, a young Boston physician then studying in Paris. Fisher's report is often vague, occasionally incorrect, and probably exaggerates his role in the acceptance of anesthesia in Paris. This review attempts to complement and correct Fisher's account.
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Biography Historical Article
The Abajian scales. John Abajian, Ed Brazell, and the University of Vermont's 1956 to 1959 halothane research.
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Historical Article
Iconography, shields around the candle: symbolism of an institutional seal.