Editing Local anesthetic (section)

== History ==
{{more citations needed section|date=February 2014}}
In [[Peru]], the ancient [[Inca mythology#Deities|Incas]] are believed to have used the leaves of the [[coca|coca plant]] as a local anesthetic in addition to its stimulant properties.<ref name="Boca Raton">{{cite news | vauthors = Gazourian A |title=Cocaine's use: From the Incas to the U.S.|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19850404&id=0B1UAAAAIBAJ&pg=6387,881236|access-date=2 February 2014|newspaper=Boca Raton News|date=4 April 1985}}</ref> It was also used for slave payment and is thought to play a role in the subsequent destruction of [[Inca Empire#Coca|Incas culture]] when Spaniards realized the effects of chewing the coca leaves and took advantage of it.<ref name="Boca Raton" /> [[Cocaine]] was first used as a local anesthetic in 1884. The search for a less toxic and less addictive substitute led to the development of the aminoester local anesthetics [[stovaine]] in 1903 and [[procaine]] in 1904. Since then, several synthetic local anesthetic drugs have been developed and put into clinical use, notably lidocaine in 1943, bupivacaine in 1957, and prilocaine in 1959.

The invention of clinical use of local anaesthesia is credited to the Vienna School which included Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Carl Koller (1857-1944) and Leopold Konigstein (1850–1942). They introduced local anaesthesia, using cocaine, through 'self-experimation' on their oral mucosa before introducing it to animal or human experimentation. The Vienna school first started using cocaine as local anaesthesia in ophthalmology and it was later incorporated into ophthalmologic practice. Dr. Halsted and Dr. Hall, in the United States in 1885 described an intraoral anesthetic technique of blocking the inferior alveolar nerve and the antero-superior dental nerve using 4% cocaine.{<ref name="López-Valverde_2014">{{cite journal | vauthors = López-Valverde A, de Vicente J, Martínez-Domínguez L, de Diego RG | title = Local anaesthesia through the action of cocaine, the oral mucosa and the Vienna group | journal = British Dental Journal | volume = 217 | issue = 1 | pages = 41–43 | date = July 2014 | pmid = 25012333 | doi = 10.1038/sj.bdj.2014.546 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Shortly after the first use of cocaine for topical anesthesia, blocks on peripheral nerves were described. Brachial plexus anesthesia by percutaneous injection through axillary and supraclavicular approaches was developed in the early 20th century. The search for the most effective and least traumatic approach for plexus anesthesia and peripheral nerve blocks continues to this day. In recent decades, continuous regional anesthesia using catheters and automatic pumps has evolved as a method of pain therapy.

Intravenous regional anesthesia was first described by [[August Bier]] in 1908. This technique is still in use and is remarkably safe when drugs of low systemic toxicity such as prilocaine are used.

Spinal anesthesia was first used in 1885, but not introduced into clinical practice until 1899, when August Bier subjected himself to a clinical experiment in which he observed the anesthetic effect, but also the typical side effect of postpunctural headache. Within a few years, spinal anesthesia became widely used for surgical anesthesia and was accepted as a safe and effective technique. Although atraumatic (noncutting-tip) cannulae and modern drugs are used today, the technique has otherwise changed very little over many decades.

Epidural anesthesia by a caudal approach had been known in the early 20th century, but a well-defined technique using lumbar injection was not developed until 1921, when [[Fidel Pagés]] published his article "Anestesia Metamérica". This technique was popularized in the 1930s and 1940s by Achile Mario Dogliotti. With the advent of thin, flexible catheters, continuous infusion and repeated injections have become possible, making epidural anesthesia still a highly successful technique. Besides its many uses for surgery, epidural anesthesia is particularly popular in obstetrics for the treatment of labor pain.