Kenneth Charles Appell, M.D.: The Surgeon who Performed the First Radiocephalic Fistulas for Hemodialysis

Abstract

Radiocephalic fistula for hemodialysis is the most effective vascular access since it was developed at the Bronx Veteran's Administration Hospital in New York by Charles Kenneth Appell in February 1965. The first fourteen cases were published in a classical paper (N Engl J Med 1966; 275:1089–1092). Some aspects of the biography of Dr. Appell, together with the history of the development of radiocephalic fistula are described in this historical communication. Dr Appel, aged 82, is currently living in New York's Hudson Valley.