Appendicitis a Modern Complaint

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 19, 9 May 1907, Page 14

Appendicitis a Modern Complaint

The word . appendicitis (says the 'New York Sun M was coined in 1886 by Dr. Reginald H. Fitz, a Boston physician. He says he invented it to suit his purpose or calling attention to inflammation of the appendix as an object of direct treatment. Before that time the names used had not given the appendix itself the fliscredit belonging to it as the actual cause of " the trouble. Even yet, physicians say they don't know what is the function of the appendix, The causes of the disease are better understood. For a time everybody was blaming grape seeds The theory has- been exploded. Foreign bodies, such as' pins seeds, stones, bullets, and bones are not found in the great majority of cases. In 1000 cases at Johns Hopkins hospital foreign bodies were found in only four. In many cases the contents of the appendix resemble fruit stones, but they are really organic matter arid 1 salts. Violent exertion and blows are causes of the disease far more oftem than is generally supposed. A long bicycle ride, a leap from a street car, an hour of swimming, exposure to cold, a blow of the fist, a kick, a fall, a bruise, or any one of a hundred other applications of force may bring about the disease. Of 4028 autopsies performed at the Boston City Johns Hopkins and Rhode Island hospitals, theresWere

8-6 cases in which acute inflammatory disease of the vermiform appendix caused death, directly or indirectly. About 48 per cent, were males. About 48 per cent, of the deaths occurred in the second and- third decades of life. In some of the cases the symptoms of appendicitis were not discovered until after death. The larger percentage of cases among men and boys is explained as being due to the greater liability to exposure, to injury and the greater tendency to errors in. diet, and in jiart, perhaps, to the excessive use of tobacco and the consequent 'digestive disturbances. The size of the appendix varies according to age ami to persons. Its. length averages from three to three and a half inches. The appendix of man is slightly larger" than that of the woman. Of seventy surgeons who were canvassed on the question : ' When the abdomen is opened for other causes and the perfectly normal appendix is easily accessible, Is it your rule to remove it V forty-four replied against and the' rest in fa\ or of doing, sor The result of a can /ass among many physicians as to whether the appendix, while still in a normal condition, should be removed as a preventive measure was the almost unanimous conclusion that such a step is ' absurd, 1 ' unjustifiable,' or ' without excuse.' '