What was a person to do in ancient times if they needed a stoma? In a time absent of anaesthesia, antibiotics, or even electricity, many people who suffered horrendous intestinal obstructions, hernia's or battle wounds were sure to die a painful and miserable death. Todays episode explores the ancient principles of intestinal surgery, looking back at the first surgical techniques used to repair the bowel, and the influence of several surgeons throughout the last 300 years that paved the way for modern techniques to be practiced, in order to create the types of stoma's we see and live with today.