19th Century Medical Revolution

Medical revolution:19th-20th centuries
Throughout history, the medical innovations made have changed how we did and saw things when it came to our medical needs. In the hundreds of years, people have discovered many details vital to our survival and maintaining a healthy and knowledgeable lifestyle. The medical revolution was different depending on where you lived and the resources available. In the 19th century the “medical developments” were a “continuation from the the 18th century (Lyons, S. Albert)”. The Two important improvements were the advances of anesthesia and sanitation. The definition of sanitation is “the conditions relating to public health, especially the provision of clean drinking water and adequate sewage disposal
Before the making of anesthetics, people used to go into surgery immediately feeling the pain endured during and after the horrific operation. Prior to this development, the pain of surgery was compared to “constant torture” and even led to the death of many with infectious diseases caused by open wounds or from shock from the pain after the surgery. There were also many other strategies in hopes of reducing the pain such as hypnosis, alcohol consumption, and opium which did not work. The idea of Anesthetics shed to light in 1772 by Joseph Priestly. He began to form the idea that if one were to inhale nitrous oxide, it may or may not relieve the pain. There were many other combinations that gave out the same sign effects as the nitrous oxide, but in the end the nitrous oxide began its peak in popularity when two dentists began to use it on their patients. They continued to use it on their operations up until a demonstration led to the death of a patient. He decided that the idea was right and that he needed to renovate the patent more. He began with a gas called sulfuric ether. The first successful public operation using anesthetics was performed on the 16th of October 1846 in Boston, Massachusetts by the two dentists by the name of William T.G Morton and Horace Wells. This success was the start of a very successful project which was a turning point for pioneers and physicians
Yearly, millions of people die of cancer and millions get diagnosed. The wide spread of this disease of this disease shows great challenge to those affected. The early detection of the disease may give higher survival rate once treated. One of the advances in cancer treatment was the chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was first developed In the beginning of the 20th century not under the intention of it being a cancer treatment. It was first noticed during World War II that people who have been revealed to nitrogen mustard began receiving low white blood cell counts. Two Yale doctors checked over the effects of the nitrogen mustard on mice who had lymphoma. They then injected a less strong mustard gas into a patient with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The patient's tumour mass began to decrease for a few weeks. This developed an idea that would stretch for ages. Chemotherapy was used on the tumors that were beyond being either surgically removed or the use of radiotherapy happening. The chemotherapy is in the form of drugs. These drugs help stop the cells from dividing in a rapid rate by destroying them. They also cause some of the healthy cells from growing which is a side effect from the chemotherapy. There were many who weren't lucky enough to survive the disease even with treatment but the ones who did are a reason why we should keep on working on developing a better system for cancer