Nerve blocks – local anaestheticsf

In 1860 Neimanns purified the alkaloid. Its local anaesthetic effects were subsequently noted by Moreno y Maiz, who was employed by the Peruvian army. Sigmund Freud began utilizing cocaine as a stimulant and a potential alternative for opium in his addicted friends/clients and on himself (thus becoming an addict). In 1884, Carl Koller, a colleague of Freud, used cocaine for eye surgery. Its medicinal use became widespread and the majority of local anaesthetic techniques/nerve blocks used today were actually described in the first quarter of the 20th century.