Discovery of the intraosseous route for fluid administration

One of the many problems in the resuscitation of the shocked patient is how to gain access to the circulation to provide fluids or drugs. Since the 1830s fluids have been administered intravenously. Intravenous access is not always possible in the very shocked patient. An alternative, used in the first world war, was the rectal route. This has rarely been used on a large scale since. Just before the outbreak of the second world war a chance discovery resulted in the development of intraosseous infusions of fluid and drugs. From its discovery it was used in adults and children. For many years it seemed to be ignored in adult resuscitation, but there are now signs of renewed interest in the technique. This brief review traces the discovery of the intraosseous route to put the current developments into a historical context.