In cases of a perforated appendix, I sometimes find the appendix, including the base, grossly gangrenous and seemingly undergoing autolysis. I find it impossible to place a good ligature around the ...

Pity the poor appendix, a 2- to 4-inch-long wormlike pouch dangling from the head of the cecum, where the large and small intestines meet. For most of its medical history — anatomists have known about ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. You may have heard that astronauts have their appendix removed before leaving Earth. After all, people say you can live without ...

For more than a century, the human appendix has been written off as a biological relic, a shrunken leftover from plant-eating ancestors that serves no real purpose. That view is now outdated. A ...

MINNEAPOLIS — Stephen Colbert is away from late-night TV following emergency surgery last week — the comedian's appendix burst. That made us wonder: What does the appendix do for our body? And why are ...

Stump appendicitis is a rare complication that occurs when the residual appendix becomes inflamed after an appendectomy. It is estimated to occur in between 0.002% and 0.15% of cases, although it may ...

Marshall K. Bartlett, M.D. Assistant surgeon, Massachusetts General Hospital. Richard H. Miller, M.D. Member, Board of Consultation, Massachusetts General Hospital ...

It was the first day of spring break in 1992 in Phoenix, and 12-year-old Heather Smith was excited for her family's upcoming ski trip. But before Smith and her family had even packed their snow pants, ...