Anesthesia Definition: Medical Purpose and Meaning

What does the Greek root 'an' in the word 'anesthesia' mean?

What would medical procedures be like without modern anesthesia?

What is the primary function of anesthetics in modern anesthesia?

Who first used the term 'anesthesia' in the first century AD?

What substances were used by ancient people to relieve pain during surgery?

What was used to provide pain relief during surgery from the 9th to the 13th centuries?

What is the term used to describe the pain-relieving properties of a substance?

What was the purpose of using sponges soaked in a concoction of herbs and hot water in medieval medicine?

What was used by medieval physicians to help relieve pain during medical procedures?

What is laudanum, produced by Paracelsus in the 16th century?

What was introduced by Joseph Priestley in 1773 as an inhaled anesthetic?

What is the term for a patient being completely knocked-out and rendered unconscious during surgery?

What was the significance of the hollow needle invented by Alexander Wood in 1853?

What are the three most common inhalation anesthetics used today, aside from nitrous oxide?

What was the development in the 20th century that led to the creation of high-quality inhalation anesthetics?

What is Anesthesia?

Anesthesia derives from the Greek roots "an" (without) and "estheia" (feeling or sensation), literally meaning "without feeling or sensation".
Modern anesthesia uses medicines called anesthetics to relax, make insensitive to pain, make sleepy, or render unconscious during medical and surgical procedures.

History of Anesthesia

Ancient and Medieval Times

The term "anesthesia" was first used by Greek philosopher and physician Dioscorides in the 1st century AD to describe the analgesic properties of mandragora (mandrake).
Ancient people used compounds like cannabis, opium, ethyl alcohol, Hyoscyamus, and cocoa leaves to help relieve pain.
Soporific sponges were used from the 9th to 13th centuries to provide pain relief during surgery.
Medieval physicians used alcohol to relieve pain, administering it orally or through fumes.

Early Modern Times

In 1773, Joseph Priestley introduced nitrous oxide (laughing gas) as an inhaled anesthetic.
In 1804, Seishu Hanaoka used general anesthesia prior to surgery with a concoction called Tsusensan.
In 1842, Crawford Williamson Long administered diethyl ether as a general anesthetic to remove a patient's neck tumor.
Other important 19th-century discoveries include the use of chloroform for general anesthesia and the development of techniques and drugs for local anesthesia.

Modern Times

In the early 20th century, scientists struggled to create high-quality inhalation anesthetics.
By the mid-20th century, they developed fluorinated hydrocarbons, such as isoflurane, desflurane, and sevoflurane.
The 20th century saw developments in drug delivery and the kinds of drugs used for anesthesia, including procaine, lidocaine, thiopental, ketamine, etomidate, propofol, and others.

Learn about the origin of the word anesthesia, its meaning, and how it helps make medical procedures painless. Discover the importance of modern anesthesia and how it works.