In all published literature available to me it is stated that in 1848, Henry Hancock, President of the Medical Society of London, presented a paper to that society describing the treatment of a 30-year-old female eight months pregnant in the Charing Cross Hospital in London [Hancock H. Disease of the appendix caeci cured by operation. Lancet. 1848;2:380–2.].
In only one book (published in 1899) it is written that François Mestivier, in 1759, incised an abscess in the right groin, in a woman eight months pregnant, and on autopsy found at the bottom of the abscess, the appendix vermiformis perforated by a pin [Mestivier FF. Observation sur une tumeur, située proche à la région ombilicale, du côté droit, occasionée par une grosse épingle trouvée dans l'appendice vermiculaire du cécum. J Méd Chir Pharmacol. 1759;10:441-2.].
I cannot reach the full-text of that article to confirm that this is the first published case. In all texts that mention Mestivier's article, a male patient is described and there is no mention of pregnancy (of course).
Please if someone has the full-text of that article send it to me or if anyone has the knowledge of some earlier descriptions of appendectomy during pregnancy or postpartum inform me.
What we can consider the first report on an operated case of appendicitis is described by Claudius Aymand (1681–1740) who operated on an 11-year-old boy with a right scrotal hernia and a fistula. He identified the appendix, perforated by a pin within the scrotum, ligated the appendix and then removed it.
Aymand C. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1736, 39: 329–336
The first operation for acute appendicitis was instead performed by J. Mestivier in 1759
Mestivier J. Journ. gen. de med. et de chir., 1759, X, 441
This is all my knowledge, this is what I know about it
I found the fulltext of the article by Maes in Am J Obstet Gynecol from 1934 where the author stated: 'As he points out, the ruptured cecum in a pregnant woman reported by Stumpf in 1836 was undoubtedly an instance of perforated appendicitis...'
Hancock, mentioned in my question described the first perityphilitic abscess in pregnancy in 1848 (Lancet).
Please if anyone knows the full reference (Stumpf, 1836) or has the reference could it be send to me.
Kelly's book cited here is available at: https://archive.org/details/appendicitisand00kellgoog
just like many other old books, maybe Stumpf's work is also somewhere here. Kelly also didn't make a proper reference to Stumpf in his book (page 427) and I guess that is the reason Maes et al. also missed to reference him. All in all, blame Howard Kelly, I guess he wouldn't be able to publish this way today (haha).
Thank you Jan. I have that book but thanks again for your effort. The problem with any search with the word 'Strumpf' is problematic. In German it means blunt, dull, obtuse and if you add the word 'appendizitis' the links are wrongly directed.
This is the closest I could get. And it is questionable whether it is the same person because articles published by this particlular prof. Stumpf from Munchen are 50 years later.
https://archive.org/stream/jahresberichtue09unkngoog#page/n6/mode/2up/search/stumpf
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