Unless it becomes inflamed and requires surgical removal, most people never think about their appendix. Since its initial appearance in the medical literature centuries ago, this small worm-like pouch ...

The human body is incredibly resilient. When you donate a pint of blood, you lose about 3.5 trillion red blood cells, but your body quickly replaces them. You can even lose large chunks of vital ...

You may have heard that astronauts have their appendix removed before leaving Earth. After all, people say you can live without this organ because it serves no purpose, but how much truth is there in ...

The appendix has long been dismissed as an organ that has outlived its usefulness in human evolution. But new research suggests it may play an active — and detrimental — role in the development of ...

MINNEAPOLIS — Stephen Colbert is away from late-night TV following emergency surgery last week — the comedian's appendix burst. That made us wonder: What does the appendix do for our body? And why are ...

The appendix is probably the most famous of humanity’s vestigial organs, but it might not actually deserve the “vestigial” part of that title. The appendix may actually save vital bacteria for the ...

Common problems usually show up in common ways. But they often fool us when they show up with uncommon presentations. Gallbladder attacks classically show up as right upper abdominal pain occurring 20 ...

There was a time when pediatricians routinely recommended tonsil removal, even for healthy children — including me. As far as I can tell, I suffered no ill effects — plus, I got extra ice cream! That ...

Appendix cancer, also called appendiceal cancer, is when abnormal cells grow and form a tumor in the appendix. Your appendix is a little pouch-like organ attached to the lower right side of your large ...