ISSN: 2754-8880

Published 00 11 0000

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Edited by

A.Hussain

Submitted 30 Sep. 2026

Accepted 4 Oct. 2026

Citation

T Cancio,L Vázquez ,A

Medina.Surgeons Who

Performed Autoappendec-

tomy.Editorial

article:BJOSS::2026:(6);214-

216

Surgeons Who Performed Autoappendectomy

T Cancio

, L Vázquez

, and A Medina

Specialist in General Surgery, Auxiliar Professor. University of Medical Sciences of Havana,

Faculty of Medical Sciences of Mayabeque. “Leopoldito Martínez” General Teaching

Clinical-Surgical Hospital, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-2617

Specialist in Internal Medicine. Instructor Professor. University of Medical Sciences of Havana,

Faculty of Medical Sciences of Mayabeque. “Leopoldito Martínez” General Teaching

Clinical-Surgical Hospital, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9161-1824

Third-year Resident in General Surgery. University of Medical Sciences of Havana, Faculty of

Medical Sciences of Mayabeque. “Leopoldito Martínez” General Teaching Clinical-Surgical

Hospital, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba. https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3446-8271

Correspondence author: Thalía Pérez Cancio. Email: thaliaperezc98@gmail.com. Phone

number: 54322915

ORIGINAL

Abstract

Acute appendicitis is the most frequent cause of surgical acute abdomen. Mortality has decreased

because of a better understanding of its pathophysiological mechanism and surgical treatment

advances. There are documented many cases of autoappendectomy, most performed by surgeons.

Keywords

appendectomy, appendicitis, surgeon

Mister Editor

Text: Several cases of autoappendectomy have been reported. American surgeon Bertram F.

Alden performed the ﬁrst in 1912 under spinal anesthesia (1).

In 1921, Evan O’Neill Kane (1861–1932) carried out his own appendectomy using morphine and

local anesthesia (

). Kane belonged to a family of physicians, including his mother Elizabeth, who

gave her name to the hospital where he worked. In 1887, together with his mother and brother

William, he founded Woodside Cottage Hospital in Kane. He specialized in occupational health

and trauma surgery for railway workers. Kane introduced asbestos dressings, mica windows

for brain surgery, and multi-site hypodermoclysis. He improved Murphy’s button for intestinal

anastomosis by enlarging its opening. He also used phonograph music in the operating room

and acetylene lamps mounted on surgeons’ heads for nighttime ﬁeld operations. Kane had a

remarkable history of self-surgery: in 1919 he amputated his own infected ﬁnger. On February

15, 1921, at age 59, he performed an autoappendectomy out of curiosity, lasting 30 minutes.

Two weeks later, he returned to work. His aim was to experience the procedure from the patient’s

perspective and to test the eﬀectiveness of local anesthesia, which he considered safer than

ether. In 1932, at age 70, he operated on his own inguinal hernia in a procedure lasting nearly two

hours, witnessed by the press and a photographer. He became drowsy during the operation, and

Howard Cleveland completed the suturing. Kane resumed operating on patients just 36 hours

later. He was known for leaving a small Morse code “K” signature near some surgical incisions

and even proposed tattooing mothers and newborns with identical marks to avoid confusion. He

died of pneumonia in 1932. Kane Hospital stopped working in 1970 (3).

Robert Kerr “Jock” McLaren (1902-1956) was an Australian soldier who performed an autoap-

pendectomy without anaesthesia using just a mirror and a knife in the middle of the jungle. He

sutured his wound with natural ﬁbres (4).

The most famous case is that of Leonid Ivanovich Rogozov (1934–2000) (

), a Soviet surgeon. In

1960, he interrupted his surgical training to join the Sixth Soviet Antarctic Expedition at Novo

Lazarevskaya Station. On April 29, 1961, he developed symptoms of acute appendicitis. With the

nearest base over 3,000 km away, Rogozov had no choice but to operate on himself. Using 0.5%

novocaine as local anesthesia, he performed a 12 cm incision in the lower right quadrant of his

abdomen. His assistants were a meteorologist, Alexander Artemyev, who handed him instruments,

and a mechanical engineer, Zinovy Teplinsky, who managed the mirror and lamp. Rogozov found a

perforated appendix, injected antibiotics into the abdominal cavity, and completed the operation

in 1 hour and 45 minutes. He recovered successfully and was later awarded the Order of the Red

Banner of Labor. Rogozov went on to earn his doctorate in surgery in 1966 and served as Head

of the Department of Surgery at the Institute of Tuberculosis Pulmonology Research from 1986

until his death from lung cancer in 2000 (6).

(a) Evan Kane

(b) Robert McLaren

Figure 1

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Conﬂict Of Interest

Author declare no conﬂict of interest and no funding for this study.

References

[1]

Doctor operates on himself: astonishing experiment. Evening Post. 1912;83(7). Available

from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19120401.2.69.

[2]

Kane EO. Autoappendectomy: a case history. Int J Surg. 1921;34:100-2. Available from:

https://quo.eldiario.es.

[3]

Yanes J. Los cirujanos que se autoextirparon el apéndice utilizando solo anestesia local; 2017.

Available from: https://www.elespanol.com.

[4]

Pope A. Un hombre ordinario y su guerra extraordinaria: la historia de Jock McLaren; 2021.

Available from: https://cove.army.gov.au.

[5]

Lentati S. El hombre que se operó su propio apéndice; 2015. Available from: https://www.

bbc.com.

[6]

Rogozov LI. Self operation. Soviet Antarctic Expedition Inf Bull. 1964;4:223-4. Available

from: https://www.bbc.com.

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