Appendectomy 1848 – Removal of the Appendix

Medical journalist Naomi Craft wrote: 

“Although appendicitis was first identified at autopsy in the 16th century, doctors learned to diagnose it correctly in a living patient two centuries later. Treatments ranged from leeches, bloodletting and enemas to continual horse riding or placing a newly killed puppy on the patient. It is hardly surprising that patients often died in such circumstances.”

• The appendix is a closed, worm-like tube in the lower-right part of the large bowel, near the junction of the large and small intestines. 
• Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix, causing severe abdominal pain. Left untreated, the appendix may burst, spreading infection and potentially causing death. 
• Appendectomy is surgical removal of the appendix, usually to treat appendicitis. 

Appendicitis may develop when a blockage causes mucus to fill the appendix. Along with lower-right abdominal pain, a raised white blood cell count may be found.

Firsts in Appendectomy History

• In 1735, in an 11-year-old boy with an inguinal hernia, French surgeon Claudius Aymand performed the recorded first successful appendectomy. Aymand noticed the inflamed appendix while examining the boy, who remained fully awake during surgery. The child made a complete recovery. 
• British surgeon Henry Hancock is regarded as the first person to deliberately intervene in appendicitis and successfully remove the appendix. 
• In 1848, while operating on a 30-year-old woman, he used chloroform anaesthesia and recommended surgery for early cases of appendicitis. 
• In 1961, a Soviet surgeon in Antarctica had to remove his own appendix.

Today, the appendix can be removed through an incision in the abdominal wall or laparoscopically, using a thin tube inserted through small openings. It may harbour bacteria useful to large-bowel function. It also contains infection-fighting lymphoid cells, suggesting a role in the body's immune system.

Description of the article image: On the left, an illustration of the first appendicitis operation in history; on the right, 27-year-old Leonid Rogozov removing his own appendix using a mirror placed in front of him.

Historical figures mentioned in the article: Claudius Aymand (1660–1740), Henry Hancock (1809–1880)

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