Britt Jones
Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions which some readers may find distressing.
A simulation shows viewers exactly what happened when a man removed his own appendix whilst in the Antarctic - and it’s not something you’d want to do.
Leonid Rogozov, a Russian surgeon was on an expedition to the Antarctic when something went horribly wrong.
As told by YouTuber Zack D Films via a simulation video which depicts the events, Rogozov became seriously ill and ‘self-diagnosed’ himself with appendicitis.
Advert
Rogozov was on the sixth Soviet Antarctic expedition with a mission to build a new base at the Schirmacher Oasis.
After setting up the Novolazarevskaya Station in February 1961, the team decided to hunker down in the camp until the winter was over.
The 27-year-old began experiencing weakness, nausea and tiredness, before the pain began on the right side of his abdomen.
It was then that he realized that with no way to call in help or to be flown to a hospital, he had to gather his team of researchers to complete a near impossible task.
The task of operating on himself.
The surgeon’s son, Vladislav told the BBC: "Being a surgeon, he had no difficulty in diagnosing acute appendicitis.
"It was a condition he'd operated on many times, and in the civilised world it's a routine operation. But unfortunately, he didn't find himself in the civilised world - instead he was in the middle of a polar wasteland."
So, he decided to operate on his own body as he did not want to die if his appendix burst open.
He instructed members of his team to assist him, by holding a mirror so that he could see what he was doing as well as instruments and a lamp.
While he could administer a local anaesthetic to his abdominal wall, he would be left without pain relief when taking out his appendix.
He wrote in a letter: "My poor assistants! At the last minute I looked over at them. They stood there in their surgical whites, whiter than white themselves.
"I was scared too. But when I picked up the needle with the novocaine and gave myself the first injection, somehow I automatically switched into operating mode, and from that point on I didn't notice anything else."
As shown in the simulation, Rogozov ended up asking for the mirror to be removed as his view was distorted and so he only used his sense of touch to pull out his intestines and then his appendix to make the incision.
But it was when he was at the end of the operation, he ‘injured the blind gut and had to sew it up’, nearly fainting in the process.
The two-hour operation ultimately was a success, and he allowed himself to take antibiotics and sleeping tablets once his team had washed the instruments and cleaned the room.
Surprisingly, he was up and back to his normal work two weeks later.
However, he wouldn’t get to go home for another two years due to his ship passage being delayed.
Once he was airlifted back to Russia, he immediately returned to work at the hospital one day later and was given the Order of the Red Banner of Labour to honor him.