A SPECIMEN OF "AUTO-AMPUTATION" OF THE APPENDIX

In "Keen's Surgery," v, 741, J. B. Murphy uses the expression "auto-amputation" of the appendix. The specimen illustrated in the accompanying photograph seems to belong to this classification, and is reproduced as a pathologic curiosity. The patient from whom the appendix was removed was a man, aged 24, with an indefinite history of appendix inflammation. During the course of a kidney operation, the appendix was exposed through the lumbar incision and was brought up into the wound. It was found to be connected with the cecum only by a fine adhesion, so delicate that simply pinching it between the fingers sufficed to separate it. Careful probing failed to disclose any opening into the cecal cavity. The proximal end was also solid. The appendix was 7 cm. in length, not dilated and contained a small amount of mucoid material. It showed the lesions of a chronic interstitial inflammation.