|
NR 1-3/2007
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Historia kokainy w
medycynie i jej znaczenie dla odkrycia różnych form znieczulenia
The history of cocaine in
medicine and its importance to the discovery of the different
forms of anaesthesia
Andrzej Grzybowski
Z Zakładu Historii Nauk Medycznych Akademii Medycznej im. Karola
Marcinkowskiego w Poznaniu
Kierownik: prof. dr hab. n. med. Roman Meissner |
|
|
| Summary: |
The first description of
the use of cocaine by humans can be found in the memoirs
of the Florentine traveller Amerigo Vespucci
(1451-1512). For the next 300 years mostly the
advantages of cocaine use, also as a medication, were
emphasized.
In 1860 Albert Niemann (1834-1861) isolated an active
ingredient of coca leaves, which he named cocaine. After
his death, his work was carried on by his disciple
Wilhelm Lossen (1838-1906), who finally, in 1865,
determined its proper chemical formula.
Although the first observations concerning the effect of
cocaine on mucous membranes were made by Niemann and
Lossen, the first experimental studies involving the
application of cocaine to animals were performed by the
Peruvian surgeon Moréno y Maïz. In 1880 Basil von Anrep
(1852-1925) published the results of his studies
concerning the application of cocaine to humans. In the
conclusion of his work he recommended cocaine as a
surgical anaesthesia.
But it was finally Carl Koller (1857-1944) who, in 1884,
empirically demonstrated the benefits of cocaine use in
medicine, most of all in ophthalmology. Subsequently,
within a couple of months, the medical world learnt
about and got interested in the use of cocaine for local
anaesthesia.
William Stewart Halsted (1852-1922) and his collaborator
Richard John Hall (1856–1897) began their own research
on cocaine injections. Eventually they developed the
nerve and regional blocking techniques.
Nowadays, due to the potential harmful effects of
cocaine and the risk of addiction, the indications for
the use of cocaine as an anaesthetic are strictly
limited. |
| Słowa kluczowe: |
historia medycyny,
historia okulistyki, historia znieczulenia miejscowego,
historia kokainy. |
| Key words: |
history of medicine,
history of ophthalmology, history of local anaesthesia,
history of cocaine. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
