The record-union., 1897-02-26
APPENDICITIS TREATMENT.
Is Resort Too Often Had to Heroic
Measures?
Drs. Dixon and Bailey Comment on
the Method Pursued by Some
Physicians.

The Record L Union'' gives space to
the following communications from
Drs, G. NJ. Dixon and A. G. Bailey on
what they term The Appendicitis
Fad" AS to the merits of the question,
readers must form their own opinions.
Are precious human lives being sac
riiced ITO satisfy the craving Of the
surgeons ambition?
1t has been said that medicine and
surgery are not sciences but are merely
arts, and while the statement is too
general and sweeping, it is in meas
ure true, particularly with reference to
a portion of the profession.
The true scientist is not influenced
In any degree by popular fads or fash
ions, while the devotee of ant usually
works in harmony with, and derives his
inspiration even, from the impulses and
prevailing fads of the people.
A portion Of the profession has, par
ticularly within the present decade,
given itself over to a wild and unrea-
soning race after medical and surgical
fads, without apparent regard for the
rights of a confiding public or for their
own honor and dignity, and no instance
is more striking than the present in
discriminate search for and removal
of the appendix vermiformis. 1t is my
firm conviction that far more human
lives have been sacrificed by the sur
geon's knife than have perished by the
ravages of appendicitis without such
interference.
In what [ have said and shall say
upon this at present alll-important sub
ject, | shall avoid so far as possible,
technical terms and l wish it distinctly
understood, that I do not intend any
personal reflections upon local MEM
bers of the profession. My criticisms
are general in character and in appli-
cation, for the fad is as general as is
the distribution of the profession.
Sacramento is fortunate in having an
unusually large number of talented and
skiIlful medical men, but here also
paradoxical as it may seen-there has
been an unusual, and I believe unwar-
ranted, Indulgence in this surgical Ii
cense, resulting in the death of a num-
Der of individuals, some of them of
such prominence as to arouse the
thoughtful public to a vigorous protest
against the practice.
IHle SecIIlt IIpc 1OI puDllC pIp-
tests from the profession itself, not only
with reference to the present subject,
but also regarding other dangerous and
absurd fads now agitdting the pro-
fession.
What is the appendix vermiformis?
Where is it located in the human or
ganism? and why is it made the point
of attack by 50 many surgeons?
1t is a long, narrow, worm-shaped
tube varying from three to six inches
in length, the average diameter being
about equal to that of a g0osequlI, It's
canal terminating in a blunt point or
cul-de-sac the other end attached 10
and opening into the caecum or COM
mencement Of the large intestine inn
1nediately below the point of union be-
tween the small and the large intestine,
around which latter it snugly curls.
Its location is in the right side of the
abdominal cavity, at point about
midway on and slightly below line
drawn from the navel to the point of
the right hip-b bone. Its location may
vary one or more inches from the
above point-a fact which often greatly
adds TO the difficulties of an operation
for its removed. Like all other organs
of the body, it is liable to attacks of
Inflammation, and assesses may form
in 1t as in other more vital organs, or
likewise extravasations and adhesions
may result from one or more attacks
of Inflammation causing discomfort,
and at times great suffering.
The disease is amenable to medical
or to surgical treatment, or to combined
medical and surgical treatment. /
wish to be distinctly understood as
saying that there are occasional cases
which require surgical interference,
even To the extent Of the entire removal
of the appendix, but such extreme
measures are only justifiable as a last
resort, for a very large proportion of
all cases can be cured or made fairly
comfortable by medicinal measures
alone. My own experience, and that of
members of my school of practice.
proves conclusively that cases thus
treated rarely recur, but no reason ex-
lists why an appendix should not be as
liable to a second or third attack Of
Inflammation as to the first, and in
cases where adhesions have resulted
subsequent attacks are more probable,
but an attack of appendicitis is by no
means a reason or a valid excuse, even
for a surgical operation, involving as it