Anaesthesia and intensive care
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The Manhattan Project was the highly secret American atomic research study which led to the making of the atom bomb. What is not so well known is that before the Project, fluorine was a difficult and dangerous element, while afterwards it became a key ingredient in all the new inhalational anaesthetics. ⋯ Along the way, many halogenated compounds other than ethers were tried but abandoned, and now we are left effectively with two halogenated ethers. Is this the end of the line for inhalational anaesthesia?
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Geoffrey Kaye was primarily an anaesthetist, but there were many facets to his life, not all of them involving medicine. He was also a researcher; author, teacher, engineer, inventor, metalworker; organiser traveller; visionary and collector. Geoffrey Kaye had a vision for Australian anaesthesia. ⋯ It is his core collection of equipment, documents and memorabilia that now gives us insight into the development of our specialty. His collecting extended beyond his love of medicine. He was renowned for his collection and knowledge of exquisite tableware, porcelain, and furniture, much of which now remains in the Ian Potter Museum collection, also in Melbourne.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Jun 2007
Historical ArticleThe history of anaesthetic mortality reporting.
Anaesthetists are acutely aware of the legal constraint of reporting to the coroner deaths in association with anaesthesia. The evolution of the office of the coroner in England is presented and the relationship with the discovery and evolution of anaesthesia is examined. The legal and medical climate in the 19th century is described, with some of the key participants named and their roles explained. ⋯ The collaboration of the various state mortality committees in producing a triennial national report is an important way to ensure that the lessons of the past are kept in mind in the present. The author believes that mortality reporting, the analysis of data and the dissemination of information is a valuable field of research, monitoring and educational tool. Primum non nocere is particularly pertinent in anaesthesia.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Jun 2007
Letter Case ReportsThe bispectral index in a patient with carbon dioxide narcosis.