This Article  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on Web of Science (1)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Alton Ochsner, MD

JAMA. 1981;246(21):2453-2454.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

I enjoyed reading Dr Foraker's article, "A Reluctant Surgeon at Sea," in THE JOURNAL (1981;245:2302-2303). Obviously, Dr Foraker is an internist and I want to congratulate him on using excellent judgment in treating the patient with a ruptured appendix. Undoubtedly, he saved the man's life.

I don't know whether Dr Foraker is familiar with the conservative treatment of appendiceal peritonitis, first advocated by my distinguished cousin, Dr A. J. Ochsner of Chicago, in the latter part of the last century. Antibiotics were not yet available and infections were controlled only by good surgical treatment and the patient's resistance.

Everyone has agreed that acute appendicitis should be operated on as soon as the diagnosis is made, but Dr Ochsner made the important observation that when peritonitis occurred, it frequently took precedence over the acute appendicitis. He believed these cases were better treated conservatively, particularly if there was beginning localization, because of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Sue Alice and Robert L. Slaughter Department of Surgery, Ochsner Clinic, New Orleans.

Footnotes
Dr Ochsner died Sept 24, 1981.

Reprint requests to Medical Editing Department, The Ochsner Foundation, 1516 Jefferson Hwy, New Orleans, LA 70121.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?