A History of Nordic Anesthesia

News of anesthesia’s discovery came via Great Britain and France, and ether was given by February 1847. Chloroform quickly followed, but its lethality caused a reversion to ether by 1900. During the last half of the nineteenth Century, surgeons directed delivery of anesthesia by nurses and non-medical persons. Operations were few in number, and infections remained the dominant surgical risk. Surgeons introduced local and regional anesthesia after Koller’s 1884 demonstration of the anesthetic effects of cocaine. Until the 1930s, nurse anesthetists, directed by surgeons, continued to provide most anesthesia. Surgeons persuaded a few colleagues like Gordh (Sweden) to pursue a career in anesthesia. Gordh returned home in 1940 after 2 years training in the US. World War II delayed the training of other Nordic pioneers. Swedish scientists synthesized lidocaine, and Gordh clinically tested it in 1943. In 1950, Thesleff, and von Dardel in Sweden studied succinylcholine in patients.