[Pioneers of anaesthesiology--Arthur Ernest Guedel (1883-1956)].

Arthur Ernest Guedel was a US born anaesthetist, whose name found its place among key persons in our specialty. Commonly known as a developer of the oropharyngeal airway, he did much more. Possibly, his major achievements were the detailed description of nitrous oxide and diethyl ether anaesthesia. He was among the firstfull-time US anaesthesiologists, and also served in his profession during the First World War. So called Guedel charts, describing the relationship between the level of anaesthesia and pupillary reactions, allowed many non-anaesthesiologists to administer diethyl ether relatively safely. Together with Waters, he was among pioneers of cuffed endotracheal tubes. At the end of his career, in 1937, he produced a manual "Inhalational Anaesthesia--A Fundamental Guide, which served at least three generations of medical professionals.