A Brief History of Early Neuroanesthesia

Conclusions

The evolution of anesthetics and perioperative care from prehistoric times to modern day offers a fantastic perspective on the advances of medicine and patient-centered improvements in comfort and delivery of medical care. Although neurosurgical procedures have been performed since prehistoric times, the greatest advances in neurosurgical understanding and operative outcomes were achieved relatively recently, coincident with improvements in anesthetic care. The contribution of anesthesia to the development in neurosurgery has been of paramount importance, radically altering the field as we know it today.