INTRAV history

Intravenous technology was first published in 1883 by Doctor Thomas Latta during a cholera epidemic in Britain.

The standard IV use of saline solutions did not begin until 1902.

Redonnet made the first IV barbiturate, Somnifen, in 1920.

Until the 40s, IVs were only implemented by Doctors, but in 1940, Massachusetts General Hospital allowed a nurse to administer IV therapy, a process nurses had previously only assisted with.

Methohexital, a shorter-acting barbiturate with central nervous system-stimulating properties, was introduced in 1956 and remains a popular anesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Price suggested in 1960 that thiopental redistribution from brain to muscle, rather than to fat, explained the rapid awakening from thiopental.

In December 1998 Fresenius acquired the international infusion business of Pharmacia & Upjohn (Kabi).

When Doctor Meyer passed away, his patients sought IV Therapy with another Baltimore physician Doctor Gaby, who documented and published this treatment in 2002, and named it Meyer’s Cocktail, in honor of Doctor Meyer.

White, P. (2014). A History of Intravenous Anesthesia.

The Origins of Intravenous Fluids – http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/bodyhorrors/2016/05/31/intravenous-fluids-cholera/#.Wrkk0NPwZ24