On 2015 Jun 06, Preben Berthelsen commented:

On page 136, Ristagno et al state that the Danish anaesthesiologist Bjørn Ibsen’s involvement in the Copenhagen poliomyelitis epidemic 1952-3 was not the beginning of critical care medicine. I beg to differ. It was the respect of his peers - gained from his pivotal engagement in the polio epidemic - that made it possible for Ibsen to inaugurate the first multidisciplinary intensive care unit in the world at Kommunehospitalet in Copenhagen December 21, 1953. (Berthelsen PG, Cronquist M. The first intensive care unit in the world: Copenhagen 1953. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 2003;47:1190-5).

On page 138, the Norwegian Kristian Igelsrud is credited for the first successful open-chest cardiac massage in 1901. The account of the resuscitation, however, only appeared in the lay press so few clinical details are known. (There is a second-hand account in Keen ref. 43). In 1900, the Danish surgeon Hjalmar Maag used open-chest cardiac massage in a 27-yr-old man whose heart had stopped during chloroform anaesthesia (24 October, 1900). The beat of the heart was restored by Maag’s massage but cerebral damage was so severe that the patient died 10 hours later. (Maag H. Ein Versuch der Wiederbelebung (a.m. Prus) eines in Chloroformnarkose gestorbenen Mannes. Centralblatt fur Chirugie 1901;1:20-2).

P.G. Berthelsen, MD. Charlottenlund, Denmark.

On 2015 Jun 06, Preben Berthelsen commented:

On page 136, Ristagno et al state that the Danish anaesthesiologist Bjørn Ibsen’s involvement in the Copenhagen poliomyelitis epidemic 1952-3 was not the beginning of critical care medicine. I beg to differ. It was the respect of his peers - gained from his pivotal engagement in the polio epidemic - that made it possible for Ibsen to inaugurate the first multidisciplinary intensive care unit in the world at Kommunehospitalet in Copenhagen December 21, 1953. (Berthelsen PG, Cronquist M. The first intensive care unit in the world: Copenhagen 1953. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 2003;47:1190-5).

On page 138, the Norwegian Kristian Igelsrud is credited for the first successful open-chest cardiac massage in 1901. The account of the resuscitation, however, only appeared in the lay press so few clinical details are known. (There is a second-hand account in Keen ref. 43). In 1900, the Danish surgeon Hjalmar Maag used open-chest cardiac massage in a 27-yr-old man whose heart had stopped during chloroform anaesthesia (24 October, 1900). The beat of the heart was restored by Maag’s massage but cerebral damage was so severe that the patient died 10 hours later. (Maag H. Ein Versuch der Wiederbelebung (a.m. Prus) eines in Chloroformnarkose gestorbenen Mannes. Centralblatt fur Chirugie 1901;1:20-2).

P.G. Berthelsen, MD. Charlottenlund, Denmark.