What Happened to Appendectomies?

An appendectomy is the surgical removal of an appendix. But there's been a weird pattern in the incidence of appendectomies over the last few decades.

☠️NONE OF THE INFORMATION IN THIS VIDEO SHOULD BE USED AS MEDICAL ADVICE OR OPINION. IT IS FOR GENERAL EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT☠️

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⌛T I M E S T A M P S ⌛
0:00 intro
0:40 Discovering the Appendix
7:37 Appendicitis Becomes Surgical
12:30 Is Appendectomy Worth It?

#historyofmedicine #medicalhistory

[PatKellyTeaches]

I've got Patreon exclusives now! If you sign up at $2/mo or higher, you'll get to see my descent into madness as I try to figure out the history of Neosporin. It was way harder than expected. More exclusives coming soon.

[danabryant]

My appendectomy in 2008 came with a carcinoid tumor as the cause. In my case, an angry appendix saved me from something potentially much worse. Thanks, little bud! RIP

[DavidKutzler]

I'm a retired nurse-midwife and have delivered >3600 babies. Interestingly enough, the incidence of appendicitis in pregnant women is identical to the incidence in non-pregnant women. But, the mortality and morbidity of appendicitis in pregnant women is double that for non-pregnant women. It is speculated that it's so easy to dismiss abdominal pain in pregnant women that the symptoms of appendicitis tend to be neglected until it unequivocally declares itself as overt peritonitis.

[britty]

My dad had his appendix removed in '95. However, they failed to realize he had been on narcotics for severe back pain. So, what they thought was appendicitis was actually just a severe case of constipation... 😮

Edit: the real horror story is when he finally got an enema and everything came out. He loves to tell the story of how he was sitting on the toilet throwing up because of the smell while also taking the most massive dump of his life.

[whiskeytango]

My daughter suffered from a burst appendix when she was 14 years old. Her pain was severe, but for some odd reason, the doctor in emergency did not think it was appendicitis and sent her home. My wife took her to our family doctor the next day, who immediately referred her to Children's Hospital. Her fever, vomiting, and white count indicated a severe infection and the ultrasound of her appendix indicated that it was badly inflamed. Emergency Lapro surgery got rid of the burst appendix and the doctor said she had to suction out a lot of pus. A stay in the hospital and 5 days of intravenous antibiotics, and she ended up being fine. I always think how close we might have come to losing her then were it not for my wife's diligence. It was a lesson for me to always question the doctor if what they are telling you seems wrong. My daughter is now 35 years old with two kids of her own.

[duckiekraft]

My appendix exploded in the surgeon's hand. It was full of gangrene. That surgeon tried DESPERATELY to put me off until the next morning because he was insistent that since I was a girl, it couldn't be appendicitis and MUST be an ectopic pregnancy. I was TWELVE and a virgin. Thank God my mother was my greatest advocate. She basically told the hospital if they didn't get me in for surgery to remove what she was sure was appendicitis, she'd just have to do it herself. Had I been put off until morning, like the surgeon wanted, it wouldn't have mattered if it was ectopic pregnancy or an exploding appendix, I would probably be dead. Thanks Mom.

[patriciadoyle]

my daughter, at 27 weeks pregnant, had her appendix burst. ER did not figure it out for 3 days. Baby came at 30 weeks. He is almost out of the hospital now. He is great and my daughter is better.

[darriansea]

"dissections were considered kind of an icky thing" - wow we really do have so much in common with the past

[missaeon]

Like quicksand, appendicitis is something I thought would be a much bigger danger to me in life. As a kid, I was afraid I would get sick out in the country and have to hope someone would believe me enough to take me to the hospital! This had happened to my dad. But I hadn’t thought about it in ages, and now I know that antibiotics are why.

[erictaylor]

A friend of mine got into big trouble when we were kids when one morning, wanting to get out of going to school he did something rather foolish for a kid who's mother was a medical doctor.
Because he knew his mother diagnosed sick people as part of her job he knew if he didn't really sell it, she would know right away if he was not telling the truth, so he decided "tummy ache" would be the safest lie.
And so he set his plan in motion, and ended up getting an unnecessary appendectomy.
He pretended it hurt when his mom poked his belly and the next thing he knew he was in the exam room of his mother's colleague (the hospital had a policy that doctors could not treat their own family members) and again reacting in the same way when the when this doctor performed the same way. He was horrified when the doctor said to his mother, "We'll prepare him for surgery right away."

All he could think was, "Oh crap, what do I do now?"
He knew the farther things went the more trouble he would be in when when he admitted he was only pretending to be sick. But things went so quickly he hadn't worked up the courage to admit to lying before they pushed the anesthesia.
The last thing he thought as he went to sleep was, "I'm going to be grounded for years."
His mother shared this part. When she realized he sone had appendicitis she went into panic mode. Because by his reaction to the exam she was sure it had already burst.
When her friend came out with a tiny, fully intact, healthy looking appendix she knew exactly what he had done!
As my friend revolvered from anesthesia he was surprised to find she wasn't angry.
She told him, "I'm really disappointed." He would have preferred angry. "I really thought you were smarter than me."
She pulled up her shirt to show him a small scar, bigger than his own new scar. Turns out she had done exactly the same thing when she was his age.
She cried her eyes out years later as when watched him receive his medical degree. He really admired his mother, and he decided to follow her.
I have to wonder, how many kids have ended up in surgery pretending to have a belly ache.

[bluesideup]

When I did my surgical training (mostly rural hospitals) in 1978-80, one of the well respected, and large statured general surgeons with a deep voice said two things that stuck in my brain my whole career (primary care). First was, "If 25% of the appendixes you're taking out are not normal, then you're not aggressive enough, and one of YOUR patients is going to DIE!" (of course, this all changed in the late 90's and 2000's when high resolution CTs became more widespread. Now it's relatively uncommon to take out a normal appendix) The second thing he said early one morning walking down the hospital corridor after I had done pre-rounds and was to present the surgical cases for the day: I said, "well we have a light day; only two minor cases." He stopped dead in his tracks, and looked down sternly at me, "There ARE NO minor cases, only minor surgeons!" Never truer words that served me well my whole career.

[toysoldier]

As a scrub tech, the worst case I saw was a 20-year-old man whose mother "was quite capable of taking care of her son, thank you very much!" By the time she finally brought him to the hospital, his appendix had long since ruptured. He got a midline incision, navel to pubis. His belly was full of infection, and we washed him out with 5 liters of saline. He left surgery with 4 drains in his belly. I don't know if he survived. This would have been between 1977 and 1980.

[SciShow]

Amazing! Loved this, and thanks for writing that SciShow!!

[rickradix]

I sent this to my son he just had to make a decision to remove my 10 year old granddaughter's appendix. I have worked in the medical field for 35 years. As shown, the research was developing for some time. Because of recurrence, he decided to have it done, and this gave him concise information. You made this just in time for him. Thanks.

[robertsandberg]

I read a book about bush flying in Alaska when I was in junior high. One of the stories was about a man who was staying by himself in a hunting lodge way out in the wilderness. He had some medical training and one day realized the abdominal pain he was experiencing was appendicitis. He had some equipment he repurposed for surgery; a hunting knife, some hemostats from a fishing tackle box, some fishing line to sew himself up, (with some needles from a sewing kit, presumably) and a Coleman lantern for light. He performed the surgery on himself as best he could with the improvised medical tools he had. He survived and said something along the lines of "wanting to live is a great motivator to get through the pain." I've always thought that was a harrowing story! I've been trying to find that book for years. I'd like to read it again.

Also, in the 1960s, there was a Soviet expedition to Antarctica in which their medic performed an appendectomy on himself. That one at least had localized anesthesia to work with though! Still harrowing though. I think that one is on YouTube.

[rickwrites]

Medievals called it "the side sickness". People would get intense increasing pain there, then itd burst infecting them with bacterium and theyd die of septic shock. Horrific death, could take weeks.

[greendeane]

I am here today because a great uncle had fatal appendicitis. In seeking treatment my grandfather met my grandmother.

[EvilDransChannel]

This guy should be way bigger, one of the best new educational YouTubers

[prototropo]

Very impressed and happy to find this channel, and particularly this topic.
I had an open appy at age 12 in 1964. The pain that alarmed my dad enough to drive to an ER at midnight was truly awful--I was utterly immobilized and writhing on the floor in agony.
The surgeon came to my room afterward with my appendix in a jar--it was bulging fat, sickly white, very vermiform indeed. He said it had nearly ruptured, so I guess I'm still here thanks to presumptive surgical Tx.
Almost no-one I know, of any age, has had an appendectomy, or even rule-out appendicitis. But most people my age--born before 1960--have had a tonsillectomy with adenoidectomy.
All my spare parts now are gone but one--and I'd happily donate my spare kidney if they'd take a 72-y-o specimen. Unruptured.

[lonniewhitten]

I had sudden onset of constant throwing up and great pain in my gut. I also had pain that ran from my right shoulder diagonally to my lower left side. I was admitted to the hospital, put through countless tests and totally drugged up trying to stop the pain. During the first night in the hospital, I felt a “pop”. I told nurse after nurse, and gave the “yes, dear” statement. After one week, the doctors decided to do exploratory surgery because they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I was turning yellow and laying on deaths door. When I woke up, I had 16 different meds dripping into me (I’m allergic to penicillin). I was in the hospital for 3 weeks. Turned out my appendix did burst and I had peritonitis (yellow as an Easter egg) and my appendix was located in my back, thus the reason they couldn’t diagnose me. Took me 6 more weeks to recover. It was a horrible time in my life, but I lived. It’s been 42 years and I’m still kicking.