Incredible story of surgeon who saved own life performing own appendix surgery whilst trapped in Antarctica
A surgeon once performed an incredible operation to save his own life while he was trapped in Antarctica.
Soviet doctor Leonid Ivanovich Rogozov was left with no choice but to perform his own appendix surgery when he found himself with acute appendicitis on a remote station in Antarctica.
The man had been stationed there in April 1961 as the only medical doctor in a small expedition made up of 12 people.
The polar base was completely cut off from the rest of the world, with no evacuation available for months.
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So when 27-year-old Rogozov became unwell, suffering from symptoms such as a fever, nausea, and severe pain in the lower right abdomen, he knew he’d have to act fast.
Realizing that his appendix had ruptured, the surgeon made the terrifying decision to operate on himself in a bid to save his own life.
In a small medical room in the station, Rogozov conducted the operation with the help of two other people, who neither had any medical training and were there to hand over instruments and hold up a mirror.
The brave doctor made the incision himself and located his own appendix using touch and visuals from the mirror.
From there, he clamped it and removed it before stitching himself up.
The operation took around two hours as Rogozov reportedly went through spells of feeling dizzy and weak, which led to him taking breaks.
After five days following the op, his temperature returned to normal levels and he was back at work within two weeks.
Incredibly, the surgery was a success and he had saved his own life.
After his post in Antarctica ended, Rogozov returned to his home in Leningrad (which is now St Petersburg) and continued with his career, becoming a professor and deputy chief of a hospital department.
Speaking about the surgery in notes found afterward, Rogozov said: “I didn’t allow myself to think of anything other than the task at hand. I had to save my own life.”
The surgeon died in 2000 and his son, Vladislav Rogozov, later published his diary and surgical notes, which confirmed details of the surgery, which has since been cited in medical textbooks.
However, Rogozov isn’t the only person to have performed an operation on himself.
Back in 1921, American surgeon Evan O’Neill Kane decided to operate on himself after he was also diagnosed with a severe case of appendicitis. Kane did so in a bid to discover whether invasive surgery performed under local anesthetic could be done without any pain.
He wanted to find out if he could operate on his patients without administering ether, which he believed was dangerous.