Main 3 Problems

The 3 main problems were:

• Pain
• Infection
• Blood Loss

To deal with pain, we use anaesthetics:

• 1842: Crawford W Long (America) used ether as an anaesthetic while operating on a neck tumour (but did not publish details of his operation).
• 1845: Horace Wells (America) tried unsuccessfully to demonstrate that laughing gas would allow him to extract a tooth painlessly.
• 1846: Dr JC Warren (America) removed a tumour from the neck of Gilbert Abbott using ether.
• 1846: Robert Liston (Britain) removed a leg using ether - 'this Yankee dodge'.
• 1847: James Simpson (Britain) discovered chloroform.
• 1884: Carl Koller (Germany) discovered that cocaine is a local anaesthetic.#

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