Having an appendix operation scar may soon be as old fashioned and obsolete as keeping a wedge of plastic in the car to make your eight tracks play. This is possible thanks to doctors in San Diego, who have accomplished a very successful appendectomy by not cutting from the outside, but rather by going down the mouth.
To accomplish this feat, a half inch flexible tube is inserted into the stomach to serve as the access point, and through this instruments and cameras are routed through the tube and used to cut an access hole through the stomach. This access hole is used to get to the appendix, where a knife is put through the tube to cut it out. As the appendix is removed, a small bag is brought to the incision point through the tube and used to enclose the removed appendix. The bag then squeezes it through the pipe for extraction. After that it is a simple matter to finish and remove the tube.
The procedure's advantages go well beyond the lack of a scar. It allows for very fast recovery in days, not weeks. The patient, an ex-marine named Jeff Scholtz, was reported to be eating pizza and doing setups three days after the operation. With the possibility of a hernia or infections greatly reduced, fast recovery time, and aesthetics not withstanding, this stands a good chance of being the operation technique of the future. Of course, there will be no really cool scar to impress your classmates, but once you get past grade school that will definitely be a positive.
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