Many people with appendicitis do not need surgery, only antibiotics

Every year, about 300,000 Americans undergo surgery to remove their appendages, but a new study suggests that many of these people do not need to go under the knife. Instead, their conditions could be safely treated with antibiotics, say the researchers.

The study examined data from more than 250 adults in Finland who had appendicitis or inflammation of the appendix and were treated with antibiotics. This group was compared to 270 other adults operated on for appendicitis. All participants were followed for five years.

By the end of the study, nearly two-thirds of people who received antibiotics (64%) were considered to be "successfully treated," which meant they did not present any other crisis. d & # 39; appendicitis. The remaining 36% eventually needed a surgical procedure to remove their appendix, but none of them had adverse consequences of delay, according to the study published Sept. 25. in the journal JAMA.

People who received antibiotics also had much lower complication rates than those who had surgery. and people in the antibiotic group took 11 fewer days off than the surgery group.

The results show that antibiotics instead of surgery is a "feasible, viable and safe option" for patients, CBS News told the senior author of the study, Dr. Paulina Salminen, a surgeon at the University Hospital of Turku.

Several previous studies had suggested that antibiotics could be used to treat appendicitis, but these studies did not follow patients very long after their antibiotic treatment. The new study, however, followed patients for five years.

It is important to note that all patients in the study had uncomplicated appendicitis, which means that their appendix had not burst, which was confirmed by a CT scan. (Patients with an exploded appendix would need a surgical procedure.)

The findings "dispel the notion that uncomplicated acute appendicitis is a surgical emergency," wrote Dr. Edward Livingston, deputy editor of JAMA, in an editorial that accompanies the study.

Patients who have uncomplicated appendicitis should be offered the option of antibiotics, with the understanding that treatment has a high chance of success, Livingston said. But these patients can also be treated by surgery "they do not want to worry about the luck" of the disease, concluded Livingston.

Originally published on Science live.