[Lumbar epidural anesthesia, 1931-1936: a second debut].
Fidel Pagés Miravé (1886-1923) was a well-known Spanish military surgeon and among the first in the world to pioneer lumbar epidural anesthesia in 1920. Between 1931 and 1936, surgeons of various nationalities spread the use of lumbar epidural anesthesia worldwide. This second debut of metameric anesthesia has given us amusing anecdotes and stories of singular old- and new-world personalities who left a wealth of literature that deserves to be reviewed and valued. This review will use their original words and idiomatic expressions which, though archaic, have beauty and significance. Special emphasis is put on dates in comparisons. Because well-known names have been associated with lumbar epidural anesthesia, this review closes with the biographies of illustrious European and Latin American surgeons who played a major role in spreading the technique in the United States of America and other parts of the world.
Cortés Román
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Departamento de Anestesiología, Hospital de Madrid Montepríncipe, Madrid. cortezcesar@hotmail.com
D000767:Anesthesia, Epidural / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D013030:Spain