Extending his inventiveness to his familys medical problems, Benjamin Franklin invented the flexible catheter in 1752 when his brother John suffered from bladder stones. Franklins catheter was made of metal with segments hinged together with a wire enclosed to provide rigidity during insertion.According to a footnote in his letter in Volume 4 of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin (1959), Franklin credits Francesco Roncelli-Pardino from 1720 as the inventor of a flexible catheter. In fact, Franklin claims the flexible catheter may have been designed even earlier.An early modern application of the catheter was employed by Claude Bernard for the purpose of cardiac catheterization in 1844. The procedure involved entering a horses ventricles via the jugular vein and carotid artery. This appears to be an earlier and modern application of the catheter because this catheter approach technique is still performed by neurosurgeons, cardiologists, and cardiothoracic surgeons.David S. Sheridan invented the modern disposable catheter in the 1940s. Prior to this, some reusable catheters consisted of braided cotton tubes, which were varnished, heat-treated and polished. As these were primarily produced in France, the advent of World War II threatened the supply chain.In 1959, Teschan first described central venous catheter as means of blood vessel access for haemodialysis.Other reusable catheters consisted of red rubber tubes. Although sterilized prior to reuse, they still posed a high risk of infection and often led to the spread of disease.
During this study, treatment with satralizumab reduced the number of NMOSD relapses by 74% in participants who were anti-AQP4 positive compared to treatment with a placebo (inactive treatment).A study of satralizumab as an adjuvant to immunosuppressant treatment for NMOSD included 76 adult participants; 52 were anti-AQP4 positive. Immunosuppressant treatment in combination with satralizumab reduced the rate of relapses in participants who were anti-AQP4 positive by four-fifths compared to immunosuppressant treatment alone.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved satralizumab based on evidence from two clinical trials (Trial 1/ NCT02073279 and Trial 2/NCT02028884) of 116 participants with NMOSD who were anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody positive. The trials were conducted at 62 sites in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Participants received at random either satralizumab or placebo injections according to the schedule. Neither the participants nor the healthcare providers knew which treatment was being given. In the second trial, all participants were also receiving their current immunosuppressive medications for the treatment of NMOSD. The benefit of satralizumab was evaluated by measuring the time to the first attack and comparing it to placebo.There was no evidence of a benefit in participants who were anti-AQP4 antibody negative in either trial. Society and culture
Legal status
Satralizumab was approved for the treatment of AQP4-IgG-seropositive NMOSD in Canada, Japan, and Switzerland.Satralizumab was approved for medical use in the United States in August 2020. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the application for satralizumab fast track and orphan drug designations.