Anesthesia

Reliable general anesthesia made pain-controlled, deliberate surgery possible.

Many people contributed to anesthetic practice. The public ether demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1846 accelerated adoption, while later airway, monitoring, drug, and delivery advances made anesthesia safer. Before reliable anesthesia, pain restricted how long and how carefully surgeons could operate. Controlling consciousness, pain, breathing, and circulation opened the way to longer and more complex procedures, while also creating the need for specialized equipment, trained anesthetists, and continuous monitoring.

Sources

• Historical development of modern anesthesia — Sukumar P. Desai et al., 2012