ABSTRACT
The years between 1870 and 1900 saw a burgeoning of surgery for the treatment of acute abdominal emergencies throughout the Western world such as had never been seen before and which is unlikely ever to happen again. One by one, the acute abdominal emergencies that had hitherto been almost invariably fatal were shown to be amenable to surgical cure. In 1871, Jonathan Hutchinson of the London Hospital operated on a female child aged two years with intestinal obstruction due to an intussusception, which was actually prolapsing from the anus. The spleen is the commonest viscus to be damaged in closed abdominal injuries, particularly a severe crushing blow to the left lower chest or abdomen; the commonest cause of this today is a road traffic accident. Although spontaneous healing may occasionally occur, untreated and without surgical treatment the majority of patients with this injury will die of exsanguination.
