10. First Appendectomy: Removal of an 11-Year-Old Boy's Appendix in 1735
This condition has been well documented throughout history. As early as A.D. 130 the anatomical writings of Galen described the condition and it continued to be discussed off and on by medical practitioners for millennia. Strangely though, the cause of this condition was unknown. The appendix itself was only discovered in the late 1400s and its link to the pains written about ever since the time of Galen were only confirmed by German surgeon Lorenz Heister in 1711. In all of that time, 8% of every human that ever existed suffered and likely died from the condition without ever knowing why.
But knowing why wasn't as critical as finding a solution. Decades after the appendix was discovered, the very first appendectomy was performed on an 11-year-old-boy in 1735 by Doctor Claudius Amyand. In this case, the boy's appendix had been punctured by a pin that he had swallowed. The surgery alone was a landmark case, but the boy also had a rare condition—a type of inguinal hernia (a hernia where a piece of intestines pokes through a weak portion of abdominal muscles) that came to be named after Amyand himself.
In one fell swoop the first appendectomy was performed and the first Amyand hernia discovered. It would be another 24 years until an appendectomy was finally used as a treatment for appendicitis. Today almost 300k appendectomies are performed every year just in the United States, saving that 8% of the population from immense pain and death.
9. First Brain Surgery: Trepanation Performed On Our Distant Ancestors
Though this may sound like a very modern solution, this form of brain surgery has been practiced for 5,000 years. In fact, 5-10% of all skulls found from the Neolithic period (which lasted from about 12,000 years ago to 4,000 years ago approximately) have burr holes. Even thousands of years ago, this method was used to treat subdural hematomas in an age long before modern painkillers of anesthetics.
But the procedure wasn't always a treatment.
Twelve human skulls were all found within a 31 mile radius in southern Russia. All 12 dated back to the copper era and all 12 had burr holes located in the exact same place on the skull—the obelion, located in the back top of the skull, roughly where we might set a ponytail. None of these skulls showed any signs of trauma, suggesting they were all healthy at the time of the operation. Elena Batieva, an anthropologist from the Southern Federal University in Rostov-on-Don concluded that these 12 individuals were perfectly healthy and needed no trepanation. Instead she suggests that their skulls were ritually drilled. This is particularly fascinating, because the obelion is an especially dangerous place to place a burr hole. Indeed, several of the skulls showed no signs of healing which is proof their owners died from the trepanation.
The exact nature of their ritual and what they hoped to gain from it are not written in their bones. We can only guess at their motivations.
8. First Biopsy: A Hollow Needle in A.D. 1000
Albucasis' writings also included detailed descriptions of his instruments, showing that he used the first hollow needles described in medicine—The precursors to the tools we use today for everything from biopsies and injections to drawing blood.
7. First Successful Cesarean: Mother and Child Saved In 1794
But a cesarean section where BOTH the child and mother survive was the holy grail of the operation. Attempts were made even in the middle ages, even supposedly successful ones (but the validity of their claims is in question). But the first unquestionably successful operation took place in America in 1794. Elizabeth Bennett was suffering through a difficult childbirth and, fearing for her child's life, requested that her physicians perform a Cesarean and save her baby. The physicians refused on moral grounds, a cesarean would surely kill her. Instead, her husband Jessie Bennett, also a doctor by trade, stepped in to save his own child. Against all odds, he successfully saved both his child and wife—A first for history.
