A history of injection treatments - I the syringe.

INTRODUCTION: The syringe has become an indispensable instrument for many aspects of interventional medicine and everyday practice. METHODS: To trace the evolution of the syringe from ancient times to the present, using the internet for past documentation and the literature. CONCLUSION: The syringe has long been used for aspiration, irrigation and infusion. This developed into injections for early transfusion, anaesthesia and surgical procedures including venous sclerotherapy. Syringes have been adapted for use to inject specific drugs.

Auricular Clyster, Otenchytes, and Pyoulcos: Precursors of the Ear Syringe.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: In Western medicine, the long history of the ear syringe dates back at least to the end of the 1st millennium BCE; but the corresponding Ancient Greek word surinx designates another tool. Other Greek and Latin words and phrases, in particular auricular clyster, otenchytes, and pyoulcos, were known as names of the ear syringe until modern times. The aim of this article is to study the Greek and Latin words and phrases referred to as names of the ear syringe up until modern times before syringe became the standard word. METHOD: Historical and philological review of ancient Greek and Latin medical literature dealing with the subject. RESULTS: Careful reading of ancient medical texts mentioning these tools shows a variety of shapes and uses: beside the piston-driven syringe, the system of a bladder attached to a catheter remained in use throughout Antiquity; the otenchytes, being a piston-driven syringe, obviously was not used to squirt the liquid when the remedy put inside was warmed by a flame; the piston-driven pyoulcos is most likely of greater size, and never linked with ear care in Antiquity. CONCLUSION: Latin auricular clyster and Greek otenchytes and pyoulcos, in the few ancient texts in which they occur, designate tools of a large variety of shapes and uses, significantly different from Heron's description of piston-driven pyoulcos.

Current Perspectives on the Syringe Delivery System.

An article on the topic of sterile product packaging and delivery systems was published in the November/December 2015 issue of the International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding. This article expands the discussion on the syringe packaging system and provides more detail about the history, changes, challenges, and use of syringes in the compounding pharmacy.

Pre-filled syringes: a review of the history, manufacturing and challenges.

Pre-filled syringes are convenient devices for the delivery of parenteral medications. They are small which makes them easy to carry and are dependable for delivering a precise dose of medication. These and many other reasons are leading to their growth in the pharmaceutical market. There are a number of review articles that describe the advantages and disadvantages of pre-filled syringes. However, there are few journal articles that present information on their manufacturing and challenges. The intent of this review article is to provide information on the history of the pre-filled syringe, methods of their manufacture, methods of filling syringes as a drug product and to examine the types of syringes available. This type of knowledge can familiarize the formulation scientist with the choices available and their possible challenges.

[Injection medicines: historical notes on their use and development, with special reference to Icelandic conditions]. / Brot úr sögu stungulyfja: Med sérstöku tilliti til íslenskra adstaedna.

The first reliable syringes and hollow needles for the injections of drugs subcutaneously, intramuscularily and intravenously or for other injections came into use shortly after 1850. As far is known, morphine was the first drug to be injected subcutaneously, using a syringe and a hollow needle. Use of injection medicines, especially containing morphine or other alkaloids, became widespread among European doctors in the latter half of the 19th century. The use of injection medicines began before the existence of infectious microbes or microorganisms in general had become common knowledge, or the equilibria of electrolytes in and around living cells had been understood. Thus, injection medicines, their production and procedures of use had to pass through lengthy development lasting nearly one hundred years, in order to reach the levels of quality standards now universally accepted. It was also a definite advancement when disposable syringes and needles came into general use around 1960. Accessibility to injection medicines and their use was seemingly on a low scale in Iceland until 1930 or thereabout. The production of injection medicines in Iceland began in substance in the fourth decade of the last century. The production was generic, following official formulas, and was based in several pharmacies and a few drug companies. Only two producers offered a sizeable assortment of drugs. The production gradually became concentrated in a few firms and was finally handled by only one international, locally based, generic drugs firm, where the domestic production of injection medicines ended shortly after 2000.

[Brief history of the syringe]. / Une brève histoire de la seringue.

Since the Greek Antiquity, the syringe was used to introduce some liquids through natural orifices; the invention of the hollow needle by Pravaz allowed the injection to be used through the skin or the blood vessels. Between 1841 and 1853, with the aid of the cutler Charrière, he succeeded in manufacturing a prototype of his syringe which is displayed in the museum of Lyons.

The history of injectable facial fillers.

In an attempt to maintain a youthful appearance or to reconstruct facial deformities, physicians have greeted new technologies with excitement. In the late 1800 s, shortly after the invention of the syringe, chemical agents were used for facial augmentation. Unfortunately, history has taught us that new technologies must be used with care, because complications can occur, sometimes many years after initial treatment. The first injectable filling agent was paraffin, whose use was abandoned after complications of migration, embolization, and granuloma formation were described. More recently, silicone use was banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because of similar complications. In 1981, bovine collagen was the first agent to be approved by the FDA for cosmetic injection. Since its approval, dozens of injectable filling agents have been developed, and many are already FDA approved for cosmetic use. This article will review the highlights of the evolution of facial filling agents.

Harvey Karman and the super coil fiasco: a forgotten episode in the history of American abortion technology.

In 1971, lay California abortion provider Harvey Karman set out to revolutionize second trimester abortion just as he had done for first trimester abortion with his eponymous suction curette, the Karman cannula. An ardent critic of hypertonic saline instillation and surgical procedures such as hysterotomy, his plan was to introduce a new abortion procedure he had developed--the super coil technique--which, he believed, would finally replace all other methods to become the one and only undisputed second trimester abortion technology. What resulted, however, was a medical fiasco that prompted investigations by American federal agencies, such as the CDC and the FDA. These investigations had the net effect of increasing regulations on the development, testing and implementation of reproductive technologies in the United States.

Designs of devices: the vacuum aspirator and American abortion technology.

In 1965, 71% of legal abortions in the United States were performed using the surgical procedure of dilation and curettage. By 1972, a mere seven years later, approximately the same percentage (72.6%) of legal abortions in the United States were performed using a completely new abortion technology: the electrical vacuum aspirator. This article examines why, in less than a decade, electric vacuum suction became American physicians' abortion technology of choice. It focuses on factors such as political and professional feasibility (the technology was able to complement the decriminalization of abortion in the US, and the interests, abilities, commitments, and personal beliefs of physicians); clinical compatibility (it met physician/patient criteria such as safety, simplicity and effectiveness); and economic viability (it was able to adapt to market factors such as production, cost, supply/demand, availability, and distribution).

The history of local anesthesia.

For hundreds of years, mankind has struggled with the problem of controlling pain during surgical procedures without putting the patient to sleep. In 1884, cocaine was discovered to have local anesthetic properties and soon became widely used in many types of surgery. The many undesirable properties of cocaine led scientists to find a safer alternative. Since then, more effective local anesthetics have been and continue to be developed.

The early development of intravenous apparatus.

Modern anaesthetists rely on the intravenous route for administration of drugs and fluids. This paper traces the development of intravenous equipment from the first, tentative experiments with the intravenous route through to the first intravenous cannulas.

The syringe driver and the subcutaneous route in palliative care: the inventor, the history and the implications.

Since the early 1980s, the syringe driver has become a commonly used technology in British palliative care, used to administer continuous subcutaneous infusions (CSCI) for symptom management. Although the device itself has not been adopted universally, it has stimulated interest in the use of CSCI in palliative care and played a significant role in the modern history of this approach. This historical case study of the syringe driver examines the life and work of its inventor, explores its development for use in childhood thalassemia, and analyzes the circumstances surrounding its adoption in palliative care. We conclude by considering the reasons for the continued popularity of the syringe driver, despite problems in its use, and reflect on the lessons which can be learned about the use of CSCI in palliative care internationally.