This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (32)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

OTIS J. KING, Jr., M.D.; W. W. GLAS, M.D.

AMA Arch Surg. 1960;80(4):574-577.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In 1885, while experimenting with the action of cocaine on spinal nerves in a dog, J. Leonard Corning accidentally injected the solution into the subarachnoid space and produced the first recorded spinal anesthesia. In 1891, Quincke reported a standard technique for lumbar puncture in man. Seven years later, the first spinal anesthesia in man was recorded when August Bier, with the help of an assistant, injected 2 ml. of 1% cocaine solution into his own subarachnoid space. The era of popularity of spinal anesthesia that followed his initial report was soon dampened by frequent tragic results, which we now recognize were caused by the intentional use of high levels of anesthesia, the use of such toxic drugs as cocaine in large doses, and the failure to appreciate the effects of gravity on the anesthetic level (Trendelenberg position was routinely used for its effect on blood pressure). The discovery of less . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Eloise, Mich.

From the Department of Surgery, Wayne County General Hospital.

Footnotes
Submitted for publication Sept. 22, 1959.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?