A History of Intravenous Anesthesia in War (1656-1988)

The practice of anesthesia in war places significant restraints on the choice of anesthetic technique used; these include, but are not limited to, safety, simplicity, and portability. Ever since intravenous anesthesia became a practical alternative, there have been military doctors who felt that this technique was particularly suited to this environment. The challenge, as in civilian practice, has been to find the appropriate drugs as well as simple and safe delivery systems. The urgency of war has always stimulated innovation in medicine to counteract the ongoing development of weapons of war and their effects on the human body and to achieve improved survival as public expectations rise. This article traces the development of and the use of intravenous anesthesia by military physicians for battle casualties. The story starts long before the era of modern anesthesia, and the discussion concludes in the dog days of the cold war. The rapidly increasing interest in intravenous anesthesia in both civilian and military practice since the early 1990s is left for other authors to examine.

[Control of bleeding in the military environment]

One of the basics of military medicine is the control of haemorrhagic shock. Haemorrhage is the first cause of preventable death in combat, with the adequate control of bleeding being considered as fundamental to estimate the survival of the combatant as well as therapeutic support aimed at minimising blood loss being a challenge within military health logistics. The aim of this work is to review the medical and logistics advances in the treatment of bleeding in the military environment and combat during the latest conflicts, and to describe what is the current contribution of the Spanish Armed Forces and to profile future lines of investigation.