Citation

Leveau P. Ann. Fr. Anesth. Reanim. 1996; 15(1): 86-100.

Vernacular Title

Histoire de la reanimation respiratoire vue a travers celle des noyes.

Affiliation

Service d'accueil des urgences, centre hospitalier, Haguenau, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0750-7658(96)89407-X

PMID

8729315

Abstract

In addition to anecdotal techniques originating from Galen's reasoning, the methods for the treatment of nearly-drowned persons from the XVIIIth century to the first quater of the XIXth century, are surprising as they still include the artificial internal ventilation techniques of today. Nevertheless for more than one century, these techniques were abandoned. External manual methods generating a forced expiration were preferred until 1958, when Peter Safar and coworkers demonstrated the value of mouth-to-mouth ventilation in comparison with manual methods. This eclipse finds its origin mainly in Leroy d'Etiolles's 'alarming' dissertation produced in 1827, underlining the pleuro-pulmonary risks of endotracheal insufflation and recommending the external manual methods, considered as being easy to use by everybody, without risk, and however improperly given as being efficient. As a result, the European philantropic societies abandoned bellows and positive pressure ventilation in their official resuscitation scheme for the nearly-drowned and asphyxiated.

Language: fr