Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Acute appendicitis

  • The appendicitis conundrum

    Jayant RadhakrishnanNathaniel KooDarien, Illinois, United States Acute appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency in the world. One would expect consensus regarding its management, but that has not been the case from the time the appendix was first identified. Galen (129–216 CE) was not permitted to dissect human bodies, so he dissected monkeys. Since…

  • The early days in the history of appendectomy

    Damiano RondelliChicago, Illinois, United States Introduction What we define as appendicitis today is a relatively recent clinical picture that was well-described only in the 19th century. This is in part due to the difficult anatomic identification of the appendix. Although scholars believed to find possible descriptions of the appendix in the work of Hippocrates, strong…