What is the History of IV Therapy and What Are the Benefits?

To be entirely truthful, it would have been hard to imagine a time when there was not an option for a person to get treatment intravenously. Sure, now there are places like iv therapy la, national infusion center, infusion associates among others; that a person could go to and receive intravenous (IV) therapy at any time. However this wasn’t always so as it took quite a long time to get the access and effectiveness of this simple procedure to where it is now. But as with all successes there are many fathers or claims of origin. So much so it would be foolhardy to say there is a definitive account of the proceedings however there is one story that matches up with others more than the rest.

The History of IV Therapy

Pope Innocent VIII had an apoplectic stroke while in Rome. The ailing Pope fell into a coma after which his doctor gave him an infusion of blood from three young boys. Using anastomosis – a surgically created connection between blood vessels – the doctor was successful in exchanging their blood but unfortunately all four people who were involved in the procedure died not long after. That was in 1492, more than a century later architect Sir Christopher Wren injected wine and beer into the veins of a dog in 1656 to examine the results. The first successful IV infusion device was created from a pig’s bladder and a quill. Unfortunately, the quills were too flimsy and delicate and could not be easily fixed into blood vessels. German doctors such as Johann Daniel Major and Johann Sigismund Elsholtz continued Sir Christopher’s stellar work by demonstrating IV infusion’s effectiveness on humans. During this time there were still people like Dr. Jean Baptiste Denis who was attempting animal to human transfusion. He transfused nine ounces of lamb’s blood into a young man.

Subsequent attempts at transfusions produced the first documented medical problem during the procedure, and the later adoption of certain dubious transfusion practices and then its resulting deaths led the French parliament to wisely ban animal to human transfusions in 1668. In 1796, Dr. Philip Syng Physick, became the first to suggest human to human transfusions. Shortly after his proposal, Dr. James Blundell, a British obstetrician, performed a series of human blood transfusions in 1818 for the treatment of postpartum hemorrhage. From 1825 to 1830, Blundell performed ten transfusions, five of which were beneficial. Unfortunately, the deaths during transfusions continued until the middle of the 19th century when the doctor Alexander Wood became the pioneer to use a hypodermic needle for the administration of intravenous drugs, with the French doctor Charles Gabriel Pravaz designing a syringe – a precursor of current models.

The cholera outbreaks throughout Europe in the late 19th century propelled the evolution of IV therapy forward. In 1831, Dr. William Brooke O’Shaughnessy realized that large amounts of water and its saline were lost from the blood of cholera victims. Dr.Thomas Latta used a syringe and silver tube, successfully revived 8 of the 25 patients that he treated with intravenous saline following the lead of Dr. O’Shaughnessy. 1845 the hollow needle was perfected, followed in 1853 by the development of the first practical metal syringe, and the first hypodermic syringe was used in 1855 further moving IV therapy along. Also anesthesia during surgical procedures were introduced, paving the way for safer surgery in the future, and IV fluid administration was gradually adopted in post-operative treatment regimens.

During the Second World War, intravenous infusion was part of an important development when it was common to infuse a mixture of glucose and amino acids in those injured in war. By 1952, the venous puncture technique in large caliber veins was developed, which enabled the infusion of vesicant drugs, avoiding damage of endothelial cells that cover the inner layer of the vein. Dr. David Massa of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota was the one who developed what was called the Rochester plastic needle. Massa’s design included a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tube over a needle, which could be attached to a hub after placement. This was the first modern disposable IV catheter device, making IV therapy safer and more comfortable. These days, almost all patients admitted to hospital receive a catheter in a peripheral vein (normally in the arm or the back of the hand) as part of the admittance routine. This enables the patient to keep an  adequate hydration level  through the continuous infusion of serum, in addition to providing a rapid and safe line for the intravenous administration of medication when this is necessary. This is a testament to almost 400 years of research and thanks to that research IV therapy is now one of the most widely used treatments in modern medicine.

Benefits of IV Therapy

• Improved Wellness – IV drip therapy improves overall wellness by providing 100% of the vitamins and nutrients your body needs
• Fast treatment times – Most IV therapies can be done in under an hour. So someone could simply relax and enjoy the process in a comfortable, relaxed environment.
• Improved Athletic Performance – IV therapy provides fast and effective hydration, improves athletic performance, reduces recovery time and supports muscle recovery for athletes.
• Immediate results – It can take up to two days to completely digest the foods you eat. With IV therapy, you can begin to feel the positive effects on your body almost instantly. Within several hours, you can feel the full effects of the IV nutrients
• Hangover Relief – IVs contain electrolytes, saline solution, vitamins, and anti-inflammatory and anti-nausea medication. This combination of ingredients rehydrates and detoxifies your body and restores nutrients and electrolytes lost during drinking.