Kenneth Charles Appell, M.D.: the surgeon who performed the first radiocephalic fistulas for hemodialysis.

Radiocephalic fistula for hemodialysis is the most effective vascular access since it was developed at the Bronx Veterans Administration Hospital in New York City by Kenneth Charles Appell in February 1965. The first fourteen cases were published in a classic 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 vignette. Dr Appell, age 82, is currently living in New York's Hudson Valley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]