Witte Wilfried
Klinik für Anästhesie mit Schwerpunkt Intensivmedizin, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, D - 12203 Berlin.
J Anesth Hist. 2020 Mar;6(1):8-12. doi: 10.1016/j.janh.2018.01.003. Epub 2018 May 23.
Acupuncture anesthesia was used instead of intubation anesthesia in the 1970s and 1980s in West Germany and West Berlin. In East Germany acupuncture played no decisive role.
Different articles and papers in journals, in daily press, statements of contemporary witnesses, films, records in archives.
As in other Western countries, acupuncture was hugely popular in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1970s. Chief triggers were the state visits to China of the American President Richard Nixon in 1972 and shortly thereafter of West German Foreign Minister Walter Scheel and his wife Mildred, an x-ray technician. During that period observation of an operation under acupuncture anesthesia was an obligatory element in the agenda of a foreign delegation. Following this showcasing, acupuncture was widely adopted in Western surgery as an alternative to the previously exclusive employment of intubation anesthesia. While the alternative method was soon abandoned in the frontline city of West Berlin, it continued to prevail in other West German cities, e.g. Gießen and Munich. Following the Chinese example, the acupuncture effect was normally enhanced electrically. In accordance with the animosity between the USSR and the People's Republic of China, exchange between the German Democratic Republic and China was very restricted through the late 1980s. This made it easier for East German acupuncture sceptics to reject the procedure and brand it as unscientific. Those who advocated it were in a precarious position.
Acupuncture was lauded in the West as ancient savvy destined to complement science-oriented medicine. However, the cultural transfer which accompanied the spread of acupuncture was flawed by misunderstanding and misguidance. Acupuncture anesthesia instead of intubation was not practiced in the GDR. Acceptance of acupuncture in East German medicine failed to make any headway until the last few years of the country's existence.
20世纪70年代和80年代，在西德和西柏林，针刺麻醉被用于替代插管麻醉。在东德，针灸没有起到决定性作用。
期刊上的不同文章和论文、日报、当代见证人的陈述、电影、档案记录。
与其他西方国家一样，20世纪70年代针灸在德意志联邦共和国非常流行。主要诱因是1972年美国总统理查德·尼克松对中国进行国事访问，以及此后不久西德外交部长瓦尔特·谢尔和他的妻子米尔德里德（一名X光技术员）对中国的访问。在那个时期，观看针刺麻醉下的手术是外国代表团议程中的一项必选内容。经过这样的展示，针灸作为插管麻醉此前唯一使用方式的替代方法，在西方外科手术中被广泛采用。虽然这种替代方法在西柏林这个前沿城市很快就被放弃了，但在西德的其他城市，如吉森和慕尼黑，它仍然很盛行。效仿中国的做法，通常通过电刺激来增强针刺效果。由于苏联和中华人民共和国之间的敌意，直到整个20世纪80年代末，德意志民主共和国和中国之间的交流都非常有限。这使得东德的针灸怀疑论者更容易拒绝这种疗法，并将其斥为不科学。那些提倡针灸的人处境岌岌可危。
在西方，针灸被誉为古老的智慧，注定要补充以科学为导向的医学。然而，伴随针灸传播的文化传播存在误解和误导。东德没有实行针刺麻醉替代插管麻醉的做法。直到该国存在的最后几年，针灸在东德医学中的接受度才有所进展。
