The Portland daily press., 1900-12-01
APPENDICITIS.
Disease That IL the Subject sf several
widespread Decisions.


1.-THE PRACTICALLY sudden death CT Sheriff
Klock has set q good many people to
thinking about sppsndfoitis.' said
New Orleans surgeon yesterday. Zone
Of the strangest things in connection
with the disease Is the unwise amount Of
public interest and discussion 1t has ex-
cited, since it first began to be generally
diagnosed. some ten or twelve years ago.
Or course q great deal OF nonsense has
been written about IL. and it IL still the
subject OF several widespread delusions.
The doctors supposed, originally, that 1t
was always caused by some foreign body
which had lodged In the appendix, and
the 'grape-seed theory spread like Wild
fire all over the country. A great vine
yard owner OF Napa valley, California.
told me last summer that there was
marked falling of in the consumption Of
grapes for nearly three years, while that
idea prevailed, and that there was a COR
responding increase In the demand for
seeuless varieties. How the impression
originated Ia hard to say, for there are
absolutely no recorded cases In which
grape seeds vera found in the appendix
after an operation. suppose the story
was set adoat by some imaginative para
graph writer. and it Is certainly curi-
GUS commentary on human oreduiity that
1t should have placed hundreds OF thou
sands OF people under deadly apprehen-
sion and seriously affected an immense
agricultural industry. But after this
scare had run its course the surgeons be-
gan to report so many cases In which
nothing at all was found that reaction
set In an some of the most eminent men
In the profession declared that the dis
ease was never caused by foreign body.
That put many practitioners in rather
an awkward position. 10 looked as II
they had been taking, as the expression
goes. and had olaimed to find things In
the appendix which really existed In
their imaginations. At present, how
ever, 1t Is we'll established that the dis
ease may or may not be caused by parti-
cies Of hard matter lodging in the little
cui-de-sao that forms the seat OF the
trouble. Tine cases are about evenly d.
vided. Strange to say, common pins are
the things most frequently found.
Another common error in rega I'd to
appendicitis, continued the surgeon,
'.is that the attacks are always very sud-
den and violent, and that there is little
or no premonition or their coming.
Many people have light attacks OF the
disease for years before 1t develops an
acute form. Sometimes IL never devel-
ops. These mild cases are generally of
what lie called the catarrhal type and
occasionally the symptoms are so slight
that the patient is not even confined to
bed. But they are always danger sig-
nal, and after the first attack it Is never
safe to go out of the reach OF expert medi-
cal assistance. Appendicitis is now gan
orally regarded as y surgical disease'-
that Is to say, disease In which an
operation is necessary TO effect cure:
and the principal thing upon which the
profession is divided Is when to operate,
some hold that there should be no delay
after the first symptoms appear, an d 9TH
ers insist that is best to walt and operate
between attacks, when the patient can
be built up to withstand the shock.
The chance OF recovery Is then undoubt-
edly much greater; but as against the
waiting theory Is the ever present danger
that the first attack may not subside or
Its own accord, but may develop to
point that renders an operation impera-
i've, When that becomes the case the VIC
bltIl rs Stubfdiy 80 tAnhubteu luab buo
odds are against rally. So, you see, 1t
is about six to one and half dozen to
the other. There is risk, grave risk, In
either instance When the surgeon does
his work between attacks, however, and
the patient is prepared as carefully as
possible before hand, the percentage of
mortality is very small. Some surgeons
have operated over hundred times and
never lost a case Yes, have heard OF
operating on people who had never had
appendicitis, added the surgeon, In re-
Spouse to question, "but ! have never
seen IL done. and am free to say l
wouldn t undertake such a Job myself
A surgeon has no moral right to inter-
fere unless nature demands 1t. Anyhow,
the chance of having appendicitis Is
much less than the chance OF surviving
the knife, so a man who has an operation
performed as purely precautionary
measure Is a fool by mathematical dem
onstration. New Orleans Times DE mo-