The appendix, located in the lower right side of the abdomen, is a blind ended tube connected to the cecum (or caecum), a pouch-like part of the colon.
Appendicitis is an acute inflammation of the appendix. If the appendix wall ruptures, infection may spread to the abdominal cavity, causing peritonitis. Symptoms of appendicitis include pain and cramps in the area between the right hip bone and the navel, fever, nausea and vomiting, constipation, and diarrhea.
Up to the late 19th century appendicitis was generally not treated operatively and carried a high mortality rate, but developments in anesthesia and antisepsis made life-saving surgery possible. Dr Graves of Ontario took out a patient’s appendix for the first time in 1885. He performed the operation on a 12-year-old boy on the family’s kitchen table.
England’s future King Edward VII was troubled by stomach ache in the run up to the coronation in June 1901. All the foreign kings and princes had arrived, but they had to wait while the king was operated on at home. The coronation had to wait until August and his appendicitis operation made the removal of the appendix fashionable.
In the autumn of 1912, British actress and singer Adrienne Augarde embarked on an American vaudeville tour that began in California and eventually made its way east. She was featured in a one-act playlet entitled A Matter of Duty, written by Agnes Burton. While the show was playing at the Majestic Theater, in Chicago, in March 1913, Augarde was stricken with an attack of appendicitis and died a short time later after a failed operation. She was 30 years old
In October 1926 Harry Houdini was talking to a group of students after a lecture in Montreal when he commented on the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows. Suddenly, one of the students punched Houdini twice in the stomach. The magician hadn't had time to prepare, and the blows ruptured his appendix. He fell ill on the train to Detroit, and, after performing one last time, was hospitalized. Doctors operated on him, but to no avail. The burst appendix poisoned his system and he died of peritonitis 12 days later in a Detroit hospital.
The first Ryder Cup golf tournament took place between Great Britain and America in Worcester, Massachusetts, in July 1927 with nine golfers per team. Appendicitis kept British professional golfer Abe Mitchell out of play, and the United States team won.
During World War II, an Australian veterinary surgeon Robert Kerr McLaren removed his own appendix in the middle of a Philippine jungle, without any anesthetic and with only the use of a mirror and an ordinary knife. The operation took four and a half hours and he stitched himself up with jungle fiber.
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| Location of the appendix in the digestion system |
Appendicitis is an acute inflammation of the appendix. If the appendix wall ruptures, infection may spread to the abdominal cavity, causing peritonitis. Symptoms of appendicitis include pain and cramps in the area between the right hip bone and the navel, fever, nausea and vomiting, constipation, and diarrhea.
Up to the late 19th century appendicitis was generally not treated operatively and carried a high mortality rate, but developments in anesthesia and antisepsis made life-saving surgery possible. Dr Graves of Ontario took out a patient’s appendix for the first time in 1885. He performed the operation on a 12-year-old boy on the family’s kitchen table.
England’s future King Edward VII was troubled by stomach ache in the run up to the coronation in June 1901. All the foreign kings and princes had arrived, but they had to wait while the king was operated on at home. The coronation had to wait until August and his appendicitis operation made the removal of the appendix fashionable.
In the autumn of 1912, British actress and singer Adrienne Augarde embarked on an American vaudeville tour that began in California and eventually made its way east. She was featured in a one-act playlet entitled A Matter of Duty, written by Agnes Burton. While the show was playing at the Majestic Theater, in Chicago, in March 1913, Augarde was stricken with an attack of appendicitis and died a short time later after a failed operation. She was 30 years old
In October 1926 Harry Houdini was talking to a group of students after a lecture in Montreal when he commented on the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows. Suddenly, one of the students punched Houdini twice in the stomach. The magician hadn't had time to prepare, and the blows ruptured his appendix. He fell ill on the train to Detroit, and, after performing one last time, was hospitalized. Doctors operated on him, but to no avail. The burst appendix poisoned his system and he died of peritonitis 12 days later in a Detroit hospital.
The first Ryder Cup golf tournament took place between Great Britain and America in Worcester, Massachusetts, in July 1927 with nine golfers per team. Appendicitis kept British professional golfer Abe Mitchell out of play, and the United States team won.
During World War II, an Australian veterinary surgeon Robert Kerr McLaren removed his own appendix in the middle of a Philippine jungle, without any anesthetic and with only the use of a mirror and an ordinary knife. The operation took four and a half hours and he stitched himself up with jungle fiber.
Soviet surgeon Leonid Rogozov removed his own appendix during an Antarctic expedition in 1961. He was the only doctor of the expedition and become seriously ill. Working by touch, without gloves Rogozov completed the operation in nearly two hours, down to the final stitch.
After Leonid Rogozov had to remove his own appendix, all Australian doctors were told they must have theirs removed before being allowed to stay in Antarctica.
Kenpachiro Satsuma, the actor who played Hedorah the Smog Monster in a 1971 Godzilla movie, was struck with appendicitis during the production. Doctors were forced to perform surgery while he was still wearing the monster suit because of the length of time it took to take off. During the operation he learned that painkillers had no effect on him.
For generations, doctors figured the appendix had no purpose. But recently scientists have come to believe it protects healthy bacteria which aid in digestion. Sometimes bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. The appendix’s job is to reboot the digestive system in that case.
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