Antibiotics Enough to Manage Appendicitis? Appendectomy May Soon Become Obsolete

A new study has shown that antibiotics may be a suitable alternative to appendectomy surgery in major appendicitis cases.

Appendectomy is the surgical removal of an inflamed appendix (appendicitis) due to bacterial infection or mechanical blockage, according to Medicine Net.

Annually, 1 in 10 Americans are diagnosed with acute appendicitis, and there are about 300,000 people who undergo appendectomy surgery, Time reports.

In a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, scientists have found that majority of the study participants who received antibiotics did not require appendectomy.

"For more than a century, appendectomy has been the standard treatment," said lead author Dr Paulina Salminen of Finland's Turku University Hospital.

She believes that the study will help rethink how appendicitis treatment is approached. There are two types of appendicitis, a more serious form that needs surgery and a milder one that can be treated with antibiotics, Salminen explained to WebMD.

For the study, the researchers assigned 530 acute appendicitis patients to receive standard appendectomy or antibiotic treatment for 10 days. There were 273 patients assigned to surgery except for one, bringing the success rate to 99.6 percent.

In 256 patients given antibiotic treatment, 72.7 percent or 186 participants did not require the operation. The remaining 27.3 percent or 70 patients in the group, however, went under appendectomy surgery for suspected recurrence.

To follow up, scientists found no complications in patients who received antibiotics but had to get an operation in comparison to those who had appendectomy right away.

However, doctors warn that patients with appendicitis symptoms should seek help from hospitals because the condition can be life-threatening when untreated.

According to Dr. Edward Livingston, editor of JAMA, and Dr. Corrine Vons, of Paris' Jean-Verdier Hospital, routine appendectomies for patients should be stopped

"The operation served patients well for more than 100 years. With development of more precise diagnostic capabilities like CT [scans] and effective broad-spectrum antibiotics, appendectomy may be unnecessary for uncomplicated appendicitis, which now occurs in the majority of appendicitis cases," they said, as per Daily Mail.

Dr. Livingston added that most patients with appendicitis do not require operation. He explained that they could be given antibiotics and be observed and if there is recurrence, a surgery can be done to remove the appendix. Having the surgery is expensive and also comes with some risks and post-surgical pain.

"I am a surgeon and I hope to get through life without ever having an operation," Dr Livingston said. "So if I were given the option of taking antibiotics and not have surgery, I would take antibiotics in a heartbeat."