[Influence of anesthesia and antisepsis on the earliest gynecologic laparotomies: historical notes on the bicentennial of the introduction of ovariectomy]. / Influencias de la anestesia y antisepsia sobre las primeras laparotomías ginecológicas. Notas históricas a propósito del 2do centenario de la introducción de la ovariectomía.

On the occasion of the bicentennial of the first ovariectomy, we reviewed the beginnings of abdominal gynecologic surgery in Spain in order to shed light on aspects that are still unclear in medical historiography and that are often wrongly presented. We consulted a large number of sources that allowed us to follow events in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, discovering information we consider definitive and that confirmed our initial hypotheses. The work of Dr Federico Rubio, the first to perform an ovariectomy in Spain, is highlighted among the early experiences of our Spanish surgeons. Emphasis is placed on the high mortality rate associated with this operation at the beginning. We also analyze the problems of anesthesia and antisepsis and the influence of each on the surgical procedure. The events uncovered were the work of a group of forward-thinking surgeons who made considerable progress against opposing groups with more conservative views and whose contributions to Spanish surgery were far less brilliant.

[The first operations performed with chloroform in Spain. More facts and new contributions]. / Las primeras operaciones efectuadas con el cloroformo en España. Más datos y nuevas aportaciones.

Although the issue of clinical introduction of chloroform in Spain was rather controversial, we can assure now with no doubt that first news of its discovery reached our country by the end of November and beginning of December of 1847. The cities first receiving those first news were Cádiz, Madrid, Barcelona, and Santiago de Compostela; in the latter two cities, during the first days of December, the new anesthetic agent was already available and the first experiments on dogs were conducted in 19th Sunday and first clinical assays in Barcelona and in Santiago de Compostela, the first experiments in Spain, were carried out in December 20th. Spanish scientific and daily press, particularly, press of Barcelona and Madrid promptly reflected the events and informed their readers about the discovery of chloroform as anesthetic. Our research deals with some of these aspects and we believe that will contribute to clarify not fully studied points to date.

[History of the introduction of ether anesthesia in Spain. A new contribution to its study]. / Historia de la introducción de la anestesia etérea en España. Una nueva contribución a su estudio.

Ether anesthesia was introduced in Spain on January 13, 1847. Dr. Diego de Argumosa y Obregón, from Madrid, was the first Spanish surgeon who operated with the help of sulphuric ether. Almost at the same time, by the end of January, the dentist Oliverio Machechan administered ether to 2 patients in whom he performed dental operations. Subsequently, ether was used in several parts of Spain: Barcelona, Pamplona, Motril, and by several Madrid surgeons through February and March. In Santiago de Compostela ether was also introduced very soon, and, on the basis of the data from the studies of Dr. José González Olivares (the surgeons who first tried it in that town), most authors dealing with this issue state that it was probably in Santiago de Compostela where these experiments were carried out simultaneously with those by Argumosa in Madrid or even before. We have in some occasions defended that thesis; however, we were not satisfied with it and we decided to reinvestigate the facts. We had access to other sources and we concluded that anesthetics were really used a very early phase in Santiago de Compostela, but in the case of ether it was later than Argumosa and Oliverio Machechan used it in Madrid and Mendoza in Barcelona. In the present article we analyze these facts in detail, with emphasis on those that we consider historically relevant and that had not been previously dealt with by any other author addressing these issues.

[Spanish pioneers in the technics of laryngotracheal intubation]. / Pioneros españoles de las técnicas de intubación laringotraqueal.

Tracheal intubation technique is the result of centuries of experiments, studies and clinical trials. Among the pleiad of physicians who definitely introduced tracheal intubation in clinical practice, several Spanish physicians especially contributed to its diffusion with their research work and discoveries and in some cases they were true pioneers in techniques considered as so advanced at the beginning of this century that it was thought they would never be systematically used in clinical practice. In the present work, we discuss the contributions of these Spanish pioneers to laryngotracheal intubation technique, a technique widely used in modern medicine.