Historical aspects of appendicitis in Chile: from the pre-antibiotic era to contemporary surgery

Abstract

Appendicitis was one of the diseases that enabled the development and consolidation of modern abdominal surgery by integrating clinical observation, clinicopathological correlation, timely surgical intervention, and septic focus control. This article analyzes the historical, clinical, technical, and epidemiological evo-lution of appendicitis in Chile, from the pre-antibiotic era to contemporary surgery. A narrative review of primary and secondary Chilean sources published between 1886 and 2025 was conducted, including medical theses, academic proceedings, publications from Revista Médica de Chile, hospital clinical series, and epidemiological records. The first documented appendectomy in Chile was performed by Dr. Ventura Carvallo Elizalde on April 18, 1896. During the same period, surgeons such as Olof Page, Raimundo Charlín, Manuel Barros Borgoño, and Lucas Sierra contributed to the national adoption of the concept of appendicitis and to the consolidation of early surgical intervention. During the first half of the twentieth century, appendicitis accounted for up to 30% of emergency surgical procedures, with high mortality in delayed and complicated presentations. The introduction of antibiotics, together with anesthetic, techni-cal, and organizational advances, substantially reduced population mortality. The history of appendicitis in Chile reflects the evolution of national abdominal surgery and explains the development of current treatment standards.