Appendicitis can be defined as an inflammation of the appendix. In ancient Egypt, the first information about this inflammatory disease dates back as the Egyptians described it as “the worm intestine. In the findings, it was observed that acute inflammation of the vermiform appendix is probably as old as man. This is evident from the discovery of an Egyptian mummy of the Byzantine era that exhibits adhesions in the right lower quadrant which is suggestive of old appendicitis. The history of Ancient Egypt appendicitis can be traced from the first description in a paper published in 1544 by Jean Fernel. Leonardo da Vinci in his drawings on anatomy depicted the appendix in the XV century.
It may be inferred from some of the information available that in ancient Egypt acute illnesses were certainly well known. However their precise nature is difficult for us to reconstruct, but pneumonia and appendicitis can be clearly recognized. In a few temple reliefs, the muscle wasting of poliomyelitis can be recognized.
Anatomy of Ancient Egypt Appendicitis
To find out the story of the recognition of appendicitis in Ancient Egypt can be understood with the nature of the disease first. Appendicitis was a disease related to the abdomen. In this disease, the process of pain which is situated on the right, and may lie in different planes can begin in different parts of the abdomen, deeper or more superficial. The pain may spread to the entire abdominal cavity, may be ill and epigastric and bring in the left side. This Pain may be accompanied by vomiting followed by fever, weakness, malaise. This is where the action is required and taken absolutely contraindicated in acute appendicitis.
The fragmentary Kahun Papyrus is the oldest of the medical papyruses which deal with veterinary medicine and women’s diseases. The Edwin Smith Papyrus (of about the seventeenth century B.C.) is concerned with surgical matters that started from the top of the body- the head and then working down. A type of medical organization is often seen in subsequent texts in other countries but the information in the text is found incomplete ending abruptly at mid-chest.
In ancient Egypt, Imhotep was the first known physician, also a medical professor and a prodigious writer of famous medical books. He was the first medical professor and is believed to have written the Edwin Smith Papyrus which contained more than 90 anatomical terms and description of nearly 48 injuries. Along with these, Imhotep also dealt with appendicitis.
