Mafutsuto-Ron: The First Anesthesia Textbook in the World. Bibliographic Review and English Translation

On October 13, 1804, Seishu Hanaoka performed a mastectomy on Kan Aiya in Hirayama, Kii Province Japan, in what is considered to be the first operation under general anesthesia. She was anesthetized with a mixture of herbs known as Mafutsuto. Although Seishu did not record his anesthetic practices, his student, Gendai Kamada, documented the use of Mafutsuto in Mafutsuto-Ron. Written in 1839, Mafutsuto-Ron is 10 pages and covers six topics, including preoperative management, dosing and administering Mafutsuto, induction of general anesthesia, common errors, and postoperative precautions. Mafutsuto-Ron, therefore, meets the requirements to be considered the first extant anesthesia textbook. We present a complete English translation of Mafutsuto-Ron.