Ensuring breathing during anaesthesia has been an obsession since the beginning.
Control of the tongue falling backwards during unconsciousness led to the use of mouth gags and tongue retractors between 1847 and 1920
Oropharyngeal cannulae date from the beginning of the 20th century (Hewitt, 1908, O’Connell 1913, Lumbord 1915, Miller 1918 and Guedel 1933). At the present, the Guedel airway is an exact copy of the original device: only the materials used in manufacture have changed.
Tracheostomy is a technique known since Antiquity for the management of rare cases of acute obstructive asphyxia. It was developed for the management of dipheritic laryngitis (croup) during the 19th century. It is used now for artificial ventilation in some cases of resuscitation and for long term ventilation in the intensive care unit.
Endotracheal intubation had been used in neonatal resuscitation since the begging of the 19th century by Desault, Chaussier, Depaul and Ribemont. Placing a tube in the glottis was introduced by Bouchut during a diptheria epidemic in 1858 but was challenged by his peers. O’Dwyer revived the procedure in 1896 and improved it. Development of intubation progressed with the invention of the laryngoscope by Chevalier Jackson which allowed a clear view of the glottis and introduction of a cuffed or non- cuffed tube. Various models were developed subsequently.
Use of intubation became standard in anaesthesia and in resuscitation for assisted ventilation.
The laryngeal mask airway (LMA) a supraglottic device developed by the English anaesthetist Archie Brain during the 1980s, overcame many of the problems associated with difficult endotracheal intubation.