Abstract
The successful 11th International Symposium for the History of Anaesthesia (ISHA) was held recently in Paris, in September 2025. It was hosted by the Club d’Histoire de l’Anesthésie et de la Réanimation (CHAR) and the Société Française d’Anesthésie et de Réanimation (SFAR). The first two days were held at the University Paris Cité, with the final day being at the Palais de Congrés, allowing for combined sessions with SFAR and the World Congress of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. ISHA is held only every four years, with the last, slightly delayed by the COVID pandemic, being held in Kobe City, Japan in June 2022.1,2
There was a very comprehensive lecture programme in English with 69 papers being presented from 11 different countries using two concurrent sessions. Plenary sessions included the history of the World Federation of the Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) and safety in anaesthesia in France. Lecture topics included the history and development of: military anaesthesia, resuscitation, regional and local anaesthesia, monitoring, pharmacology, anaesthesia equipment, malignant hyperthermia, transfusion, critical care, veterinary anaesthesia, professionalism, education, mesmerism, non-physician anaesthesia and individual biographies.
There were also presentations on the social aspects of anaesthesia in different cultures, including during Japan’s westernisation, the Jewish medical community in Germany, colonialism, and anaesthesia intersecting with evolution.
The last day, at the Palais de Congrés, provided a unique opportunity to collaborate with our veterinary colleagues from around the world. These combined sessions delivered some fascinating insights into the historical role of veterinary anaesthesia in war and animal research, as well as contemporary information about the role of anaesthesia in the ethical treatment of research animals.
Keynote speakers included Dr David Wilkinson, Prof. André Lienhart, Dr Wulf Stratling, and Wood Library-Museum laureate Dr Alistair McKenzie. Local speakers included Drs Jean-Bernard Cazalaa, Jacques Hotton, Yvonnick Blanoeil, Luc Barvais and many others presenting the many unique French contributions to anaesthesia over the years.
The excellent cultural and social programme included visits to:
The Institut de France, which has five academies and was established in 1795. It hosts the French Academy of Sciences, where some of the first deliberations of the discovery of anaesthesia took place in 1847.
The Armed Forces Medical Corps Museum at the Val-de-Grâce Army Hospital, which emphasised many of the medical advances due to war.
A superb historic anaesthesia display at the Musée d’Histoire de la Médicine, founded in 1803, titled ‘Il était une fois l’anésthesie’, which translates as ‘Once upon a time in Anaesthesia’. Many superb pieces of early anaesthesia equipment were on display from private collections which had everyone wondering, how did you give an anaesthetic using these?
Paris does not exist without the Seine river and the social night included a wonderful dinner cruising the Seine on a balmy evening with all of Paris on magnificent display.
Dr Jun Parker from Portland in Victoria, Australia, was the recipient of the Young Historian Prize for the best presentation at the Symposium. He received an original early French Ombrédanne inhaler from the President of ISHA, Dr Dominique Simon. The Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology supported the meeting with a display and future meetings were promoted. Australia was well represented by 13 anaesthetists, with seven presenting a total of nine papers.
Great credit must go to Dr Dominique Simon, President of ISHA 2025, the organising committee and the scientific board in organising a wonderful and inclusive meeting in autumnal Paris. CHAR have a superb website with a vast variety of resources on the history of anaesthesia, resuscitation and critical care. See https://www.char-fr.net/, which Google will translate into English.
