Antibiotics have been found to be as effective as surgery after a study found that surgery to remove your appendix may be a thing of the past.
Doctors divided the 1,500 patients who suddenly fell ill with appendicitis, which makes the organ swollen and painful, into two groups.
Half of the volunteers received a course of antibiotics, while all the others had their limbs removed in regular operations.
In the following three months, more than 90% of patients have been given antibiotics, according to research from the University of Washington.
Compared to participants who underwent surgery, they endured fewer work or school days. And patients in both groups reported a similar rate of recovery after one month of treatment.
The findings suggest that thousands of operations could have been avoided if doctors had relied on antibiotics in the first case.
And scientists have noted in their paper that antibiotics may now become more standard as a treatment for appendicitis as hospitals are stretched to deal with Covid-19 patients and a backlog of routine operations.
One trial found that antibiotics are just as effective as performing surgery, as appendix removal may be a thing of the past. Illustrated: Highlighting stock image appendix location
The NHS estimates that around 400,000 people in England are hospitalized with appendicitis each year.
And U.S. In 2015, about 11.6 million cases of appendicitis were reported.
Inflammation of the appendix, a thin finger-like tube at the top of the colon, severe pain in the lower right side of the body, and sometimes constipation or diarrhea.
The most common type of treatment is surgery, called an appendectomy, to remove the appendix immediately.
The NHS says: ‘If you have appendicitis, it is likely that your appendix will need to be removed soon.’
This is because the appendix may rupture within two days of the onset of symptoms. The patient dies if the appendix ruptures because the bacteria that cause the infection can leak into the stomach.
During surgery, doctors remove the appendix from the body after making three or four small incisions in the abdomen. The cut is closed with staples or stitches.
After regular surgery, most patients are able to go home the next day and be able to return to normal activities after a week.
But like any surgery, there are risks. Side effects occur in about 10 patients out of 10 operations, such as catching a skin infection.
Some European studies have shown that most people with appendicitis are successfully treated with antibiotics instead of surgery.
A new trial involving 1,552 appendicitis patients in 14 states was established to confirm the findings on a larger group of participants.
Patients were randomly selected to undergo an appendectomy or to receive antibiotics, which were initially given by IV drip.
The most common medications given to patients in the trial included sertrixone, cefazolin, or levofloxacin, as well as ertapenem, cefoxitin, or metronidazole.
Once the patient went home, they continued to take antibiotic pills for a total of 10 days.
The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, show the advantages and disadvantages of both types of treatment.
But the findings suggest that antibiotics help patients avoid surgery altogether.
In the following three months, only three out of 10 patients had to return for surgery, i.e. seven out of 10 patients underwent surgery.
Eleven percent of those who underwent surgery performed it in just 48 hours.
The paper acknowledged that the limitation of the research is that it only follows patients for three months.
For example, some may need surgery – or face other difficulties – after the trial is over.
The researchers said the Covid-19 epidemic, according to the original plan, limited their ability to adhere to patients for up to a year.
Because antibiotics do not work to cure the infection in 300% of people, the risk of recurrence of the disease is much higher in the antibiotic group than in the surgical group.
With one-time treatment of appendix removal, patients rarely had to return to the hospital – only four percent needed to return in the following three months.
The findings show that fewer patients in the antibiotic group (47 percent) were hospitalized for their initial treatment, while 95 percent of the surgery group needed to admit them after surgery.
But the overall time at the hospital was the same between the two groups.
Participants in the antibiotic group lost an average of 3.3 days from work or school compared to 8..7 days in the appendix group due to the difference in recovery recovery.
The CODA who conducted the study Bonnie Bezel, chairman of the Patient Advisory Council, said: ‘People receiving antibiotics were more likely to return to the emergency department, but less time from work and school.
‘This type of information can be important for individuals as they consider the best treatment option in their unique circumstances. The CODA is tasked with taking these steps to make shared decisions about appendicitis. The trial is really the first such proceeding of its kind. ‘
‘When we compared those who were treated with antibiotics or surgery alone to remove the appendix as a result, we found that people who received either treatment felt better in 30 days,’ said David. Dr. David Talan, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medicine. Infectious Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
“In terms of overall health status, antibiotics were no worse than surgery and most people avoided surgery in the short term,” he said.
The scientists conducting the trial were most interested in the health of the patients 30 days after their treatment, with similar levels of rated symptoms in both groups.
Co-principal Investigator and Professor and Chair of Surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine. David Flum said: ‘Each treatment had advantages and disadvantages, and patients would value this differently based on their unique characteristics, concerns. And perspective. ‘
The researchers wrote in their paper: ‘With the coronavirus epidemic 2019 (Covid-19), health systems such as the American College of Surgeons and professional societies have suggested reconsideration of many aspects of care delivery, including the role of antibiotics. Treatment of appendicitis. ‘
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