Twenty Years of Fluothane

Zusammenfassung

The first anaesthesia which started the clinical of halothane (Fluothane) was given on the 20th January, 1956 at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Three months later a report on its use in twohundred patients was discussed by a sub-committee of the Medical Research Council in London and it was agreed that the clinical investigation should be extended to other medical Centers at home and abroad. Two years later halothane was in worldwide use and acclaimed as a highly effective anaesthetic agent. Its success was publicly acknowledged in 1973 by the presentation of the JOHN SCOTT AWARD to its discoverers Drs. CHARLES SUCKLING and JAMES RAVENTOS. The award was made by the trustees of the City of Philadelphia and is given to persons who make discoveries or inventions that are of proven benefit to mankind. Halothane is now the yardstick by which all anaesthetic agents are judged. In view of the present widespread interest in the synthesis of new anaesthetic drugs it may be of interest to present an account of the work which ensured the success of halothane when it came into clinical use.

“- ..... the record of the past is the guide of the future“