The History of Veterinary Anaesthesiology and the Comparative Analysis of the Present Status of Anaesthesiology in German and Hungarian Small Animal Practices

Abstract

This thesis discusses the historical course and the development of anaesthesiology in small animal veterinary medicine from its very beginnings until the present day. Furthermore, differences in practice environment, anaesthesia equipment and anaesthetic drugs used between German and Hungarian veterinary practices were investigated in a comparative stury. Historically, the development of anaesthesiology and the understanding for pain was a very sluggish process. First attempts to control pain were already done by ancient advanced civilisations in the 15th century BC. Until the 12th century AD, the predominating drugs had consisted of herbal mixtures made of mandragon, henbane and poppy. The breakthrough and establishment of the modern anaesthesiology was first successfully accomplished by the dentist W.T.G. Morton with the public demonstration of ether in Boston on 16th October 1846. From then on, further narcotising gases like chloroform and nitrous oxide followed in fast order. As the 19th and 20th century progressed, injectable narcotics, local anaesthetics and further inhalation narcotics succeeded. Some of them are used slightly modified until today in veterinary anaesthesiology. The comparative study of German and Hungarian veterinary practices bases on results, obtained by surveys among veterinarians of those countries. In this study, the practice environment is investigated by analysing data of patient catchment area and staff size, and the anaesthesia equipment, preferred drugs and drug combination are compared All data are visualized in figures. As it concerns the results of the evaluation, only little differences in the used equipment and general practice environment could be detected. Furthermore, Hungarian and German veterinarians are using similar drugs for anaesthesia, analgesia and narcosis.