APPENDICITIS ' 

 By P. K. Oilman' 



(From the Philippine General Hospital and the College of Medicine and 

 Surgery, University of the Philippines, Manila, P. I.) 



Appendicitis is a disease confined to no particular locality, race, 

 age, or station of life; it is of interest to each and every class; 

 and its pathology and treatment have been developed in our own 

 generation. 



As late as 1886 only did R. H. Fitz, a Boston surgeon, clearly 

 point out the cause of the frequent acute, and often fatal, attacks 

 of pain and inflammation in the lower right abdomen. Since that 

 date a long list of surgeons have, by their contributions, succeeded 

 in building up a technique for dealing with the disease in its 

 acute and chronic stages. 



Before considering briefly some of the various types of appen- 

 dicitis with their complications, we wish to make a statement 

 that our experience has borne out. It is a safe rule to consider 

 the possibility of appendicitis in every case of abdominal trouble 

 not clearly due to something else. Therefore, in each case of 

 abdominal disease the physician should endeavor first of all to 

 rule out appendicitis. This should especially be borne in mind 

 by those of us who have not at hand a completely organized 

 hospital with its staff, including a thoroughly equipped clinical 

 laboratory, to assist us in ruling out other conditions and narrow- 

 ing the field of diagnostic possibilities. 



A brief analysis of the last 50 cases of acute appendicitis 

 operated upon in the clinic of the Philippine General Hospital 

 may be of interest at this point. The ages of these patients 

 range from 4 to 55 years, with the greatest number of cases 

 between the ages of 20 and 30. 



There were 38 male and 12 female cases. Nineteen of the 

 patients complained of pain beginning in the lower right abdo- 

 men; 21 claimed a general abdominal pain, while in the remaining 



' Read before the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Philippine Islands 

 Medical Association, held in Manila from November 4-7, 1912. 



' Professor of surgery, College of Medicine and Surgery, University of 

 the Philippines, and chief of the department of surgery, Philippine General 

 Hospital. 



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