Appendicitis? Antibiotics can be all you need



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Antibiotics may be a good option for many cases of appendicitis.

Several randomized trials have shown that the treatment of appendicitis with antibiotics rather than with surgery can be safe and effective, but that the long-term effects of preventing an appendectomy are unclear.

Now, in a new study published in JAMA, researchers carried out a five-year follow-up of 256 randomized patients in a large trial to receive antibiotics instead of a surgery for uncomplicated appendicitis – in which the drug was not used. appendix is ​​not broken, there is a low white blood cell count and no faecal blockage.

About 60% of patients never needed an appendectomy. Of the 100 people who eventually needed a surgical procedure, 70% had it during the first year and none of the 100 people had adverse outcomes related to the delay in performing the procedure. # 39; transaction. The decision to perform surgery was left to the discretion of the attending surgeon, which could have resulted in more operations than necessary.

"If I have a scanner and I can see that appendicitis is not complicated," said the senior author, Dr. Paulina Salminen, a university surgeon from Turku in Finland, "I would discuss with the patient the possible results of antibiotic treatment alone or surgery, so we would make a joint and impartial decision about what would be best."

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