ABSTRACT
Significant progress in critical care medicine has been the result of tireless observation, dedicated research, and well-timed serendipity. This article provides a historical perspective for four meaningful therapies in critical care medicine: blood transfusion, fluid resuscitation, vasopressor/inotropic support, and antibiotics. For each therapy, key discoveries and events that have shaped medical history and helped define current practice are discussed. Prominent medical and social pressures that have catalyzed research and innovation in each domain are also addressed, as well as current and future challenges.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents/history , Blood Transfusion/history , Cardiotonic Agents/history , Critical Care/history , Fluid Therapy/history , Vasoconstrictor Agents/history , ABO Blood-Group System/history , Animals , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Carbapenems/history , Carbapenems/therapeutic use , Cardiotonic Agents/therapeutic use , Cephalosporins/history , Cephalosporins/therapeutic use , Critical Care/methods , Europe , Fluid Therapy/instrumentation , Fluid Therapy/methods , Fluoroquinolones/history , Fluoroquinolones/therapeutic use , Glycopeptides/history , Glycopeptides/therapeutic use , History, 16th Century , History, 17th Century , History, 18th Century , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , History, Ancient , Humans , Infusions, Intravenous/history , Isotonic Solutions/administration & dosage , Isotonic Solutions/history , Japan , Lipopeptides/history , Lipopeptides/therapeutic use , Military Medicine/history , Oxazolidinones/history , Oxazolidinones/therapeutic use , Ringer's Solution , United States , Vasoconstrictor Agents/therapeutic useABSTRACT
Few afflictions have attracted as much attention and impacted on as many societal and biomedical areas as cholera. Dr. John Snow's studies launched the field of epidemiology, were early applications of medical cartography, and promoted the use of statistical methods in medicine. The finding that cholera was due to the ingestion of contaminated water lent to the demise of the prevalent "miasmatic theory of contagion," set the platform for the "germ theory of disease," and promoted the growth of public health concerns for water purification and sanitation. More recent attention to this disease led to the notion of "secretory diarrhea" and the translation of basic principles to the development of oral rehydration therapy and its "spin-offs" (Gatorade and Pedilyte).
Subject(s)
Cholera/history , Diarrhea/history , Fluid Therapy/history , Rehydration Solutions/history , Research Design , Water Microbiology , Water Supply/history , Administration, Oral , Amino Acids/metabolism , Animals , Carbohydrate Metabolism , Cholera/complications , Cholera/epidemiology , Cholera/metabolism , Cholera/therapy , Cholera/transmission , Diarrhea/epidemiology , Diarrhea/metabolism , Diarrhea/microbiology , Diarrhea/therapy , History, 18th Century , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , Infection Control/history , Infection Control Practitioners/history , Intestinal Absorption , Intestine, Small/metabolism , Isotonic Solutions/administration & dosage , Isotonic Solutions/history , London , Rehydration Solutions/administration & dosage , Sodium/metabolism , Water/metabolismABSTRACT
Lactated Ringer's solution has been used for decades in the resuscitation of hypovolemia and hemorrhagic shock. Its origin relates to a serendipitous substitution of water in the London laboratory of Sydney Ringer in the 1880s. A number of controversies have related to the use of lactated Ringer's solution. Some of these have involved the potential exacerbation of lactic acidosis and the question of whether administration of colloid or crystalloid is preferable in severe hypovolemia. The use of hypertonic saline solutions in shock is an issue of current investigative interest.
