[The paracervical block: the method and its pioneer]

Abstract

From the 1950s to the end of the 1980s the implementation of the so-called paracervical block (PCB) belonged to the therapeutic measures for pain relief. Due to its apparent simplicity and lack of potential risks the method was performed by the obstetricians themselves. The method is especially suitable for the painful opening period during the birth process. The procedure attained worldwide popularity up to the date when potential associated risks, namely for the fetus, became evident and is nowadays regarded as obsolete. The origins of the regional anesthesia procedure can be traced to Philipp Gellert, a Jewish physician from Dresden, Germany, who in 1926 first reported on his experiences with the method. Comparable to the anesthetic procedure performed decades later, he combined the nerve block with pudendal anesthesia and the administration of a uterine tonic. As further biographical information about Gellert, who was murdered in 1942 due to his Jewish roots, has not yet become widely known, the eventful history of the anesthetic procedure he once described are sketched and his biography is outlined.

Keywords: Obstetric anaesthesia; Paracervical block; Pioneers of obstetric anaesthesia; Regional anaesthesia in obstetrics; The beginnings of local anaesthesia during childbirth.