title: The first successful elective laparotomy.
abstract: The first time the abdomen was opened at an elective operation, the pathology excised and made a smooth recovery was not, as you might guess, performed in some famous university hospital in the British Isles or mainland Europe about a hundred years ago, but in a private house in the backwoods of Kentucky in 1807, and the story is a fascinating one.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of London, Guy's Hospital, London.
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ellis
mesh_terms: D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000266:history; D005260:Female; D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D007629:Kentucky; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000266:history*; D008512:Medicine in the Arts; D010048:Ovarian Cysts / Q000266:history*; D010052:Ovariectomy / Q000266:history*