Poul Astrup
Books
- Breathing by Hand The Copenhagen Polio Epidemic and the Birth of Intensive Care · Liszt Think
In August 1952, Copenhagen’s Blegdam Hospital faced catastrophe as fifty paralyzed polio patients arrived daily with only one iron lung available.
- A Theory of Poisoned Air…in awake to describe their distress. The paradox demands a different interpretation. He begins to test his observation. Blood samples go to Poul Astrup, whose laboratory can measure what the clinical eye cannot: pH, partial pressure of carbon dioxide, bicarbonate concentration. These number…
- The Machine and the Man…ollapse of a student who has squeezed too long without food or rest. The hospital has become a machine whose moving parts are human beings. Poul Astrup enters this scene through a different door. Where the students bring labor, he brings measurement. As a clinical biochemist at Rigshospital…
- The Girl on the Table…to comfort measures and waiting. The other leads to what he is about to attempt. The blood-gas measurements have convinced him, or nearly. Poul Astrup’s analyzes from the week before show the pattern clearly: rising partial pressure of carbon dioxide, falling pH, the biochemical signature…