Dr. Leonid Rogozov: The Soviet surgeon who removed his own appendix while stranded in Antarctica, 1961.

Dr. Leonid Rogozov: The Soviet surgeon who removed his own appendix while stranded in Antarctica, 1961

In 1961, a 27-year-old Soviet doctor named Leonid Rogozov performed surgery on himself to remove an infected appendix during an expedition to the Antarctic, where he was the only doctor on the team.⁣⁣
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Rogozov gathered his thoughts in his journal:⁣⁣
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"I did not sleep at all last night. It hurts like the devil! A snowstorm whipping through my soul, wailing like a hundred jackals. 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."⁣⁣
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Rogozov had two assistants to hold up a mirror, position the lamp, hand him instruments and wipe the sweat off his forehead as he went to work. The operation lasted an hour and 45 minutes.⁣⁣
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His journal entry continues:⁣ "I worked without gloves. It was hard to see. The mirror helps, but it also hinders—after all, it's showing things backwards. I work mainly by touch. The bleeding is quite heavy, but I take my time—I try to work surely. Opening the peritoneum, I injured the blind gut and had to sew it up. Suddenly it flashed through my mind: there are more injuries here and I didn't notice them ... I grow weaker and weaker, my head starts to spin. Every 4-5 minutes I rest for 20-25 seconds. Finally, here it is, the cursed appendage! With horror I notice the dark stain at its base. That means just a day longer and it would have burst and ... At the worst moment of removing the appendix I flagged: my heart seized up and noticeably slowed; my hands felt like rubber. Well, I thought, it's going to end badly. And all that was left was removing the appendix ... And then I realised that, basically, I was already saved."⁣⁣
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The surgery was a success and Rogozov was able to resume his duties after two weeks. Upon his return from the expedition, he worked as a doctor in different hospitals in Leningrad. He died in 2000 at age 66.⁣
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Source: "Surgeons performing self-surgery: A review from around the world"

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