Anesthetic Use
William T.G. Morton participated in a public demonstration of ether anesthesia on October 16, 1846 at the Ether Dome in Boston, Massachusetts. However, Crawford Williamson Long, M.D., is now known to have demonstrated its use privately as a general anesthetic in surgery to officials in Georgia, as early as March 30, 1842, and Long publicly demonstrated ether's use as a surgical anesthetic on numerous occasions before 1846. British doctors were aware of the anesthetic properties of ether as early as 1840 where it was widely prescribed in conjunction with opium. Diethyl ether was formerly sometimes used in place of chloroform because it had a higher therapeutic index, a larger difference between the recommended dosage and a toxic overdose. Because of its associations with Boston, the use of ether became known as the "Yankee Dodge."
Diethyl ether depresses the myocardium and also increases tracheobronchial secretions.
Diethyl ether could also be mixed with other anesthetic agents such as chloroform to make C.E. mixture, or chloroform and alcohol to make A.C.E. mixture.
Today, ether is rarely used. The use of flammable ether was displaced by nonflammable anesthetics such as halothane. Diethyl ether was found to have many undesirable side effects, such as post-anesthetic nausea and vomiting. Modern anesthetic agents, such as methyl propyl ether (Neothyl) and methoxyflurane (Penthrane) reduce these side effects.
Read more about this topic: Diethyl Ether, Applications