Many years ago (early 90s?) I looked into a job in Antarctica. The job stipulated that you had to preventatively remove your appendix prior to your tour of duty to avoid exactly this situation. I believe they also wanted you to replace your dental fillings (replacing the metal with a composite substance) to avoid problems caused by the cold (I assume).<p>It was all rather irrelevant to me in the end since I discovered that at the time the British Antarctic Society did not accept women (I believe this has since changed).