Learn about the incredible, yet horrifying tale of Leonid Rogozov, the surgeon who was forced to remove his own appendix during the Soviet Union’s Sixth Antarctic Expedition.
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Leonid Rogozov is described as one of the bravest, and most craziest doctors in history.
For the most part, his life was simple and, honestly, quite boring. But what happened to him in Antarctica when he was 27 years old is truly one of the most insane stories I’ve ever heard.
You see, Leonid Rogozov is one of the few people in history who has successfully performed surgery on himself—a feat that not only changed his life but also permanently altered Russian policies.
But to truly understand how Leonid was able to do this, we need to go back to where it all began.
The year was 1934. Siberia was under the rule of Joseph Stalin. Leonid Rogozov was born on March 14th in Dauriya, a remote village in eastern Siberia. Life was difficult under Russia’s industrialization and harsh policies, but for Leonid, things would only get harder.
Leonid’s father was soon sent off to join the war efforts against the rising threat of Germany. Leonid and his family prayed for his father’s safe return, but in 1943, their hopes were crushed. His father was killed, leaving Leonid fatherless at just nine years old. Yet, these hardships only strengthened Leonid’s resilience—a trait that would serve him well in the years to come.
As he grew older, Leonid developed an interest in medicine, which led him to study at the Leningrad Pediatric Medical Institute in St. Petersburg, one of the oldest pediatric institutions in the world. He graduated as a general practitioner in 1959 before deciding to specialize in surgery. Then, through what was either happenstance or divine intervention, Leonid was offered the sole medic position on the sixth Soviet Antarctic expedition in 1960. At first, Leonid was hesitant. After all, had only just completed his general medical training and was very inexperienced in surgery. What if something went wrong? But after a short stint of deliberation, Leonid decided he was overthinking it. If something did go wrong, he would handle the situation as best as he could. So, driven by a thirst for adventure and the desire to learn, he accepted and embarked on his journey on the 5th of November 1960. A decision that would fundamentally change his life—for both better and worse.
Chapter One: A Dull Pain
The trip from Russia to Antarctica took a grueling 36 days by sea. The primary purpose of the expedition was to establish a new polar base in the Schirmacher Oasis, one of the most inhospitable regions of the continent. The team had to move quickly as the polar winter was approaching, which would plunge the continent into six months of darkness. Fortunately, just a few months after arriving, and right before winter set in, Leonid and his 12 teammates finished building the base, which they later named Novolazarevskaya. Leonid was primarily there as the team’s only medical doctor, though it was common for him to also assist with
meteorology and drive the terrain vehicles. Life was hard although it was also fulfilling. But it was about to take a drastic turn for the worse.
On April 29, 1961, Leonid woke up feeling weak and unwell, though he wasn’t overly worried. After all, he was stationed in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. However, as the day went on, his weakness grew and was joined by slight nausea. Then, things took a turn for the worse.
By evening, Leonid developed a dull pain in the center of his abdomen that gradually shifted to the lower right side. He began to wonder if it might be appendicitis. His suspicions were confirmed when the dull pain slowly turned into a sharp pain in the lower right part of his abdomen, a pattern typical for patients with appendicitis. His body temperature began to rise to 37.4 degrees Celsius, or 99.3 degrees Fahrenheit.
At the time, doctors didn’t have the advanced medical equipment we have today, like ultrasounds and CT scans. Instead, they had to rely solely on their training to make an accurate diagnosis. For example, although the symptoms were typical of appendicitis, the issues Leonid was experiencing were also common in cases of mesenteric lymphadenitis, a condition where a lymph node in the stomach becomes swollen. As a result, Leonid tracked his symptoms day and night until he finally concluded that the correct diagnosis was appendicitis.
Appendicitis occurs when the appendix—a small, tube-like organ attached to the large intestine—becomes swollen and painful. For years, doctors were uncertain about the purpose of the appendix. Some believed it was an organ that once helped our herbivorous ancestors digest grass, while others thought it served no purpose at all. Today, however, modern doctors and researchers believe the appendix plays a role in supporting our immune system by helping to fight off pathogens and by repopulating the gut with beneficial bacteria. When appendicitis goes untreated, the appendix can burst, leading to a life-threatening infection. For this reason, doctors typically remove the appendix when it is infected through surgery.
After diagnosing himself with appendicitis,Leonid took antibiotics in the hopes that it would prevent his condition from worsening. But it was to no avail. By the end of the next day, his condition had worsened into full-blown appendicitis, followed by the even more dangerous condition: pyoappendicitis, which is when the appendix is on the verge of bursting.
At first, Leonid and his team searched for nearby stations that might have medical staff. But there was a major problem—the only one they could find was over 1000 km away, which at the time, might as well have been on the other side of the world. While there were foreign stations nearby, none had medics, and the blizzard raging outside made traveling impossible. Leonid and his team were left with no other option. He would have to perform surgery on himself.
Chapter Two: Desperate Measures
At 1 a.m. on April 31st, nearly two days after his symptoms began, Leonid’s team prepared one of the station’s rooms for surgery, while Leonid made a detailed plan for how he would perform the surgery.
First, Leonid instructed two of his team members, Aerolo Kabot and R-N Pyzhov, to place some of the equipment outside in the freezing cold to try and sterilize it. Leonid knew that the freezing cold temperature wouldn’t completely sterilize the equipment, but he was confident it would at least slow down the growth of bacteria and microorganisms. Still, as he watched the two place the equipment outside, he couldn’t shake the worry that it wouldn’t be enough to prevent an infection.
Next, Leonid prepared a sterile solution of 0.5% novocaine to be used as a local anesthetic. The amount was crucial—he needed just enough to numb the pain, but not so much that it would impact his ability to perform surgery. You see, too much novocaine could result in Leonid passing out, or worse, it could kill him. But since novocaine was a local anesthetic, not a general one, he knew he would still have to endure a lot of pain. Considering his very limited experience as a surgeon from his training, the odds were completely stacked against him.
Then, Leonid enlisted the help of the team’s meteorologist, Artemyev, and diver, Teplinskiy. Artemyev would be responsible for holding the retractors, while Teplinskiy would hold a mirror to allow Leonid to see the areas that were out of his line of sight.
Finally, Leonid gave his bootstrap medical team instructions on what to do in the event that he lost consciousness during the procedure.
With everything in place, Leonid positioned himself in a semi-reclined stance, his body slightly turned to the left to ensure he could see everything he needed. He then began to administer the 0.5% novocaine anesthetic to his abdomen.
“My poor assistants. At the last minute, I looked over at them. They stood there in their surgical whites, whiter than white themselves. I was scared, too. When I picked up the needle with the Novocain and gave myself the first injection, somehow I automatically switched into operating mode and from that point on, I didn’t notice anything else.”
At 2 a.m., Leonid began the procedure by making a 5-10 CM, or 2-4 inch wide incision in the wall of his abdomen. He first cut through the skin, then a layer of fat, followed by three layers of muscle and a layer of fascia, until he reached a depth of around 5-10 cm or 2-4 inches, where he would find the peritoneum, a thin layer of membrane that covers the appendix.
Initially, everything went according to plan. The anesthetic was working, and the mirror was doing its job, though Leonid occasionally had to raise his head and lean forward, which activated his stomach muscles and caused excruciating pain.
“I worked without gloves. It was hard to see. The mirror helps, but it also hinders. After all, it’s showing things backwards. I work mainly by touch. The bleeding is quite heavy, but I take my time. I try to work surely.”
As time passed, Leonid began to develop extreme dizziness forcing him to take short breaks to stabilize himself and catch his breath. Then disaster struck. Due to the dizziness he was feeling and his lack of surgical experience, he accidentally cut part of his large intestine—the cecum. Cutting into the large intestine was arguably the worst thing that could have happened, as it could cause intestinal contents to leak into the abdomen, leading to a serious, life-threatening infection.
“Suddenly it flashed in my mind that there are more injuries here, and I didn’t notice them. I grew weaker and weaker.”
Leonid felt a surge of despair. It would have been easy to give up and let the darkness take over. But he was a man shaped by the harsh Russian occupation, a man who had grown from a boy without his father’s help. He hadn’t given up then, and he wouldn’t give up now.
He was fighting for his life, in the fight of his life.
With the help of his makeshift surgical assistants, he stitched up his large intestine and continued with the appendectomy. The pain was manageable thanks to the anesthetic, but the hardest part was fighting the urge to lose consciousness. Meanwhile, Gerbovic, another member of the expedition, watched closely.
“When Leonid had made the incision and was manipulating his own innards as he removed the appendix, his intestine gurgled, which was highly unpleasant for us; it made one want to turn away, flee, not look—but I kept my head and stayed. Artemev and Teplinsky also held their places, although it later turned out they were both quite dizzy and were close to fainting. Leonid himself was calm and focused on his work, but sweat was running down his face, and he frequently asked Teplinsky to wipe his forehead.”
Leonid worked tirelessly through the night until he finally removed his appendix, which had a dark stain on the bottom, indicating it was very close to bursting. Given the environment and his lack of surgical skills, that would have been a death sentence for him.
By 4 a.m., Leonid had successfully controlled the bleeding, stitched himself up, and completed the surgery. Naturally, Leonid and his team assumed the worst was behind them. They were wrong.
Chapter Three: Unusual Clarity
Shortly after the surgery, Leonid administered a general anesthetic to himself, which put him unconscious. In the first few days following the operation, he was gripped by a relentless fever that threatened his life. However, by day five, the fever had mostly subsided, and he was on the road to recovery. By day fourteen, Leonid had returned to his regular duties and was even tasked with manual labor, shocking his fellow crew members.
For the next year, Leonid carried on as he had before. Physically, he looked the same, but mentally, he had become a changed man. In April 1962, the team was scheduled to be picked up and returned home. However, a vicious storm ripped across the continent, making it impossible for the ships to pick them up. For what seemed like an eternity, Leonid and his team faced the terrifying realization that they might have to stay there for another year.
“More and more often, waves of dull homesickness and a deep hatred of this cursed Antarctica washed over me. How odd it seems that I ever agreed to go on this expedition. All the exoticism of Antarctica had worn off within a month, and in return, I’m losing two years of my life. My clinic, which I love more than any worldly pleasure, seems as far from here as Mars”.
Fortunately, the storm eventually subsided, but the challenges were far from over. Multiple single-engine planes landed at Novolazarevskaya base to take them away. Leonid breathed a final sigh of relief as he looked out the window and saw his comrades on another plane beside him. But then, everything went wrong. In an instant, one of the planes suffered a catastrophic failure and plummeted from the sky. For what seemed like an eternity, Leonid sat there, wondering if his friends were alive or dead—and whether his plane would be the next to fall. Fortunately, the crew managed to restart the engine just before the plane plunged into the sea.
Upon returning to Russia, Leonid was awarded the “Order of the Red Banner of Labor,” a prestigious honor given to those who had performed great feats for the Soviet Union. When asked about the incredible story, he humbly remarked that it was “A job like any other, a life like any other.”
But Leonid’s actions went beyond earning a medal and creating a remarkable story. He also helped enact policy changes. From that point on, extensive health checks were required for all members of expeditionary teams before they left the Soviet Union. The goal was to identify any potential life-threatening issues before departure, so that they could prevent such dire circumstances from occurring again.
At the time of the surgery, Leonid believed he had performed the first-ever self-appendectomy. However, this assumption was false. There had been others before him, including Bertam F. Alden in 1912 and an Australian soldier who was forced to hold his assistant at gunpoint while performing surgery on himself—stories I’ll cover in future articles, so make sure to bookmark us.
Regardless, what Leonid and his crew accomplished was nothing short of a miracle. You might think that a self-surgery like this would lead to further complications down the road, but that wasn’t the case for Leonid. In fact, he went on to get married, have children, and live a long and fruitful life, only passing away in 2000 from lung cancer at the age of 66.
When asked about his father, Leonid’s son, Vladislav, simply said, “He was a man who faced life’s hardest challenges head-on and never backed down, no matter the odds.”
“If you find yourself in a seemingly desperate situation when all the odds are against you. Even if you are in the middle of the most hostile environment, do not give up. Believe in yourself and fight, fight for life.”
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The content on the blog “Medical History Book” is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Readers should not rely on the information provided in the articles for medical decisions. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for any medical concerns or questions. The authors and creators of this blog are not responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided herein. Use this blog at your own discretion.
