Abstract

VELAZQUEZ RIVERA, I.. Approach to the scientific work of medical Commander Fidel Pagés Miravé. Sanid. Mil. [online]. 2011, vol.67, suppl.1, pp.193-238. ISSN 1887-8571.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S1887-85712011000300003.

A. Faulconer in his book "Foundations of Anesthesiology", referring to Pagés says: "There are little data on the life of this important Spanish surgeon". This conclusive statement attached to unforgivable omissions to the figure of Pagés by historians of anesthesia or surgery, and to serious errors in facts about his life or work, led us to make an approximation as accurate as possible, to the scientific work of the Medical commander Fidel Pagés Miravé. Few figures have been the Spanish who have made some interesting news to the world of anesthesia. But none so wronged and forgotten like Pagés, a true pioneer of epidural anesthesia, that he would call Metameric Anesthesia in his article published in the month of March, 1921, in the Spanish Journal of Surgery, founded by him. Years later, in 1931, Dogliotti, Professor of Surgery in Modena published his experiences on the epidural, which he called Segmental Epidural Anesthesia, ignoring the work published ten years earlier by Pagés. Dogliotti's work was quickly recognized, assuming all the merits of the paternity of the epidural technique, being Pagés relegated to an unfair oblivion that this work is trying to repair. Feeling the need to locate Pagés on the environment in which he developed his scientific work, we try to realize a vision of the main surgical and anesthetic contributions of surgeons who were contemporaries with Pagés. With special sake, we delve into the historical precedents of spinal or caudal anesthesia techniques, as well as Pagés later descriptions on the lumbar approach of the epidural route. At the same time, we conducted a comparative analysis of the work of Pagés on metameric anesthesia in relation to the current force that may have their comments, descriptions, indications and contraindications. The central idea of the work will focus on the recognition of Pagés as a true promoter of the epidural approach with surgical aims. And to evaluate a work which, though short, may well be included among the best spanish surgeons in the beginning of the century. We focus for the collection of data on their records (Zaragoza and Madrid), on his records as a military doctor and on publications about the History of Anesthesia, history of Surgery and of the Military Health. To better know his character we have located his family and review the official journals of the Ministry of War, the complete collections of the main newspapers of the time, especially in Madrid and Melilla.

Keywords : Surgeon; Military; Anesthesia; Metamerism; Pioneer.

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