•

TIL that in 1961, the only doctor at a Soviet research station in Antarctica got appendicitis, and had to performed surgery on himself to remove his appendix. Two weeks later he resumed regular duties

The man who cut out his own appendix

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32481442

Russian surgeon, Leonid Rogozov, got appendicitis while on an Antarctic mission - he had to operate on himself.

Bonus: Nowadays Australian doctors staying over the winter must remove their appendix preemptively, in order to avoid similar situations.

8 comments

givesomefucks

•

The appendix was/is a repository for gut biome when humans getting diarrhea was as regular as Tuesdays. An occasional death from a burst appendix was the lesser evil

It was really important back then. But then we developed safer food/water practices and it was basically useless. But still bursting on occasion.

So there was a very slow march towards people just not having them. Over a long enough timeline that would have spread and the appendix would have gone the way of the human tail.

But now that we can remove them, there's no negative evolutionary pressure, and we're probably going to stay around .001% of people born without an appendix.

It's a great example of how medicine and science actively stalls evolution.

troyunrau

•

Eyesight will get worse over time now, but people can see better than ever... it's a bizarre contradiction.

Until you consider medicine and technology to be part of the aggregate evolutionary progress. In which case, we're racing ahead!

I don't think we see a return to traditional evolutionary pressure unless we get truly isolated populations again, coupled with a major global disaster. That, or people living in space.

givesomefucks

•

Until you consider medicine and technology to be part of the aggregate evolutionary progress

No, that stuff is memetic instead of genetic.

You can say it's human society evolving, but it's not humans evolving.

getseclectic

•

I think there is a strong argument that we have been post human since we developed writing and that a 'person' encompasses more than just their meat sack. I was first introduced to this idea by the book Natural Born Cyborgs. You are taking a narrower view of the word evolution, but I'm not totally sure it's justified.

TotallyHuman

•

I can see the argument that it's part of the evolutionary advantage conferred by bigger brains, vocal chords, and opposable thumbs.

autotldr

•

This is the best summary I could come up with:

In addition, this was the Cold War, with East and West competing in nuclear, space and polar races - the weight of which rested on both nations and individuals.

"Still no obvious symptoms that perforation is imminent, but an oppressive feeling of foreboding hangs over me… This is it… I have to think through the only possible way out - to operate on myself… It's almost impossible… but I can't just fold my arms and give up."

Then, before allowing himself to rest, he instructed his assistants how to wash the surgical instruments and only when the room was clean and tidy did Rogozov take some antibiotics and sleeping tablets.

Then if the appendix did burst, in this position we had the best chance of pus draining into the bottom of the pelvis and becoming walled off in an abscess, rather than infecting the peritoneum - the membrane that covers the inside of the abdomen.

A spell of exceptionally bad weather and thick sea ice meant the ship due to pick them up in April 1962 couldn't get close enough and the team thought they would have to spend another year in Antarctica.

As a surgeon, Rogozov was concerned about losing touch with the medical world, and on a personal level he was trapped in the place where he had the most terrible experience of his life.

The original article contains 1,518 words, the summary contains 227 words. Saved 85%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

angrystego

•

Bad bot, you skipped the most interesting parts.

watson387

•

That's a man right there I tell you what...