Man’s Appendix Removed through Mouth

Posted May 9th, 2008 by Mariella Moon

In the medical world, moving forward towards advancement means development of non-invasive means of drug administration and of course, surgery.

While many of the devices and means developed for such are still in their developmental phases, one particular method was already used for appendectomy. Sure, it’s only a minor operation, but I believe accomplishing smaller tasks brings us closer to our goal. The world’s first non-invasive appendectomy was performed on a former US Marine named Jeff Scholtz. By non-invasive, it means the surgery was accomplished without cutting anyone open. No, really.

Image: Daily Mail UK

How did that happen you ask? Well, first off, doctors insert a flexible tube down the person’s mouth until it reaches the stomach. Once inside, the stomach wall is incised to get to the appendix. Now that the tube is at the destination, doctors bring out a bag from inside the tube, cut off the diseased appendix, bag it, and finally, bring it back out through the mouth. The result? The method brought no scar and no side effect aside from a bit of sore throat. In fact, a couple of days later, Mr. Scholtz went back to work, and even started eating pizza and doing sit-ups the day after.

Image: Daily Mail UK"You'd think the way it was done, going through the stomach wall, I'd have had all kind of stomach pains, but there was nothing,” Jeff Scholtz shared. Other appendectomy patients have to spend a week resting, and it could take around 6 weeks before they can play any type of sport. Compared to them, Mr. Scholtz had it lucky indeed. Appendectomy now, heart surgery later—who knows?