A short history of surgery and anesthesiology in Space

Space Medicine has grown in parallel to Space Exploration since the second half of the 20th century. Surgery and anesthesia procedures with a special focus on acute surgical conditions management have been investigated and/or performed on animal models and astronauts/cosmonauts. Although total anesthesia has been successfully performed on animal models it is considered of high risk for humans and regional anesthesia techniques have been the method of choice so far. The history of surgery and anesthesia in Space has expanded the limits of these fields and is expected to skyrocket their conjugation with modern technology such as 3D printing.