OCR Text |
Show CONQUERING OF APPENDICITIS. Twenty year ago the sufferer from appendicitis ap-pendicitis died by another name, prefer-ably prefer-ably "Inflammation of the bowels" or "peritonitis." Today the death rate- in the best equipped hospitals it not 2 per cent. For years after the ascription of the disease to the troublesome little sac, whose useful function has been entirely superseded in the processes of evolution, it was supposed that the cause of it all was some such f'irelf!ii substance as a grape or lemon seed entering the vcrmU form appendix. Occasionally the explorer with the knife will find something in the appendix that doepn't belong there (a recent case produced pro-duced a lump of solder from canned to-matoes, to-matoes, but this in the rare exception. Appendicitis Is caused by the development of bacteria In the sac. usually associated with Inactivity of the Intestine. Theoretically, Theoret-ically, the operation is ns simple as dtg-gtng dtg-gtng a pearl out of an oyster. An Incision, Inci-sion, a stroke of the knife, a careful sterilization, ster-ilization, a suture to iioe tho Intestine, a dressing of the wound and It's all over In twenty to thirty minutes. More than half the-time It happens that way. About once out of five times the appendix. appen-dix. Instead of being at the front of the Intestines and easily get-at-able, as it ought ot be, is somewhere else. Then the practitioner begins his search. He may locate It two or three Inches from the normal nor-mal position, or he may find It far around behind, or he may discover it anywhere between; sometimes he inisses.it entirely. Or it may be so deeply involved that It cannot be safely cut out. but can only be relieved of its poisonous matter. Or It mny have burst and scattered Its contents con-tents through the abdominal cavity, in which caso the method Is to clean and disinfect the whole area. In tho hope not a very strong one of ward4ng off peritonitis. perito-nitis. For it is these cases which form the death rate, and It Is for this reason that timely operations for appendicitis are so Important. A diseased appendix, diagnosed diag-nosed early, can bo removed with practical prac-tical assurance of complete success. From "Modern Surgery." by Samuel Hopkins Hop-kins Adams in the March McClure's. |