[History of intubation]

Abstract

The Arabian doctor Avicenna (980-1037) described the first orotracheal intubation in dyspnoea. The history of peroral endotracheal intubation actually begins in the 18th century. At that time obstetricians and lifesavers used breathing tubes. In 1880 Macewen preoperatively intubated a patient to prevent the aspiration of blood during extirpation of a tumour from the base of the tongue. Regular peroral intubation to keep the respiratory tract clear during narcosis was first applied by Franz Kuhn in 1900; unfortunately, the pioneer himself did not live to see his method become a routine procedure. It was only as late as 1945, that endotracheal intubation became part of hospital practice at our clinic.