Medicine has come a long way since the days of the leech. The medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry continues to push forward and innovate in order to ensure that patients get the best possible care and laboratories have the best possible equipment.

By today’s standards some of the equipment seems downright scary and something you would be more likely to see in a horror film… SAW comes to mind! However, we have to recognise that we wouldn’t be where we are now without everything that has gone before. Here we take a look at some medical equipment that was once considered to be at the cutting edge of technology.

Iron Lung

Physicians who treated people in the acute, early stages of polio found that their patients were unable to breathe when the virus paralysed muscle groups in the chest. The iron lung worked as a respirator increasing and decreasing the air pressure to expand and contract the lungs until the patient could breathe independently. Pretty impressive invention!

Osteotome

This contraption was initially used for trepanning. The sharp spike was driven into the patient’s skull to hold the instrument in place, then the physician cranked the handle to turn the saw-toothed blade. If you didn’t have a headache before the procedure, you sure would after!

Tonsil Guillotine

Before antibiotics, tonsillitis was considered to be life threatening. Because of this, the tonsil guillotine was used to cut and remove the patient’s tonsils. Ouch!

Stainless Steel Bioprocess Container

Managers in the biopharmaceutical industry used to opt for steel bioprocess containers to store and ship valuable media. This was understandable. Steel, after all, boasted a history dipped in prestige. Even Superman was branded the Man of Steel! However, stainless steel containers had some big problems in that the raw material was expensive; they were heavy; they were expensive to ship and if a single panel got damaged the whole container had to be scrapped. It’s not surprising that ALLpaQ decided to lead the way in the plastic revolution!

What does this teach us?

We’ve learned that all of this equipment was considered ground-breaking at the time. Without these early versions we wouldn’t have made the progress that we are reaping the benefits of now. We are thankful that we live in a time of such extraordinary advancement that we no longer need to have tonsils taken out with a rusty old guillotine and that we at ALLpaQ have been able to save the bioprocess industry from the perils of stainless steel by creating the largest worldwide range of plastic folding bioprocess containers. Goodbye stainless steel… you have earned your place in the history books!
We’ve learned that all of this equipment was considered ground-breaking at the time. Without these early versions we wouldn’t have made the progress that we are reaping the benefits of now. We are thankful that we live in a time of such extraordinary advancement that we no longer need to have tonsils taken out with a rusty old guillotine and that we at ALLpaQ have been able to save the bioprocess industry from the perils of stainless steel by creating the largest worldwide range of plastic folding bioprocess containers. Goodbye stainless steel… you have earned your place in the history books

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Author

Phill Allen

Managing Director

An in and outside the (bioprocess) box thinker, fluid management specialist Phill knows a thing or two about keeping pharma liquid logistics flowing.

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