title: Vascular access: an historical perspective from Sir William Harvey to the 1956 Nobel prize to André F. Cournand, Werner Forssmann, and Dickinson W. Richards.
abstract: Sir William Harvey (1578-1657), who had many precursors, discovered blood circulation in 1628 after a significant number of anatomic dissection of cadavers; his studies were continued by Sir Christopher Wren and Daniel Johann Major. The first central vein catheterization was performed on a horse by Stephen Hales, an English Vicar. In 1844, a century later, the French biologist Claude Bernard attempted the first carotid artery cannulation and repeated the procedure in the jugular vein, again on a horse. He was first to report the complications now well known to be associated with this maneuver. In 1929 Werner Forssmann tried cardiac catheterization on himself, but could not investigate the procedure further since his findings were rejected and ridiculed by colleagues. His work was continued by André Frédéric Cournand and Dickinson Woodruff Richards Jr in the United States. In 1956 the three physicians shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their studies on vascular and cardiac systems. The genius and the perseverance of the three physicians paved the way towards peripheral and central catheter vein placement, one of the most frequently performed maneuvers in hospitals. Its history still remains unknown to most and deserves a short description.
authors: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, G. Fracastoro Hospital, San Bonifacio (VR), Italy. piersandro.sette@gmail.com
authors: Piersandro
authors: P
authors: Sette
authors: Romolo M
authors: RM
authors: Dorizzi
authors: Anna M
authors: AM
authors: Azzini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000266:history*; D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000266:history*; D002406:Catheterization, Peripheral / Q000266:history*; D057785:Catheters / Q000266:history; D004867:Equipment Design; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009613:Nobel Prize