A surgical procedure that creates an artificial opening (stoma) from the appendix through the abdominal wall.
From Latin appendix + Greek -stomy (creating an opening, mouth). This surgical term was developed when appendixes were repurposed for creating access ports to the colon in certain medical conditions.
Surgeons realized the appendix could be tunneled to create a conduit for medication delivery—they literally repurposed an 'useless' organ! It's one of medicine's clever recycling programs, reflected perfectly in this compound term.
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