Antibiotics may be treatment for appendicitis
ISLAMABAD: Patients with appendicitis usually have surgery to remove their appendix, but in some cases, it may be safe to use antibiotics as a first-line treatment instead, a new study suggests.
In the study, patients treated with antibiotics were at no increased risk of their appendix bursting compared to those who underwent surgery, and were 31 percent less likely to experience complications, such as wound infection, the researchers have said. “The role of antibiotic treatment in acute, uncomplicated appendicitis may have been overlooked mainly on the basis of tradition, rather than evidence,” the researchers wrote in the British Medical Journal. Using antibiotics in these cases, along with reassessing the patient, “will prevent the need for the most appendectomies,” they said.
However, patients with complicated appendicitis in which the appendix has burst, or the lining of the abdominal cavity is swollen and infected should still be treated with surgery, the researchers say.
Other experts argue not doing surgery has major disadvantages, and more evidence is needed before antibiotics are used to treat uncomplicated appendicitis.
Surgery to remove an inflamed appendix, or appendicectomy, has been the mainstay of treatment for acute appendicitis since 1889, the researchers said. The general assumption is that, without surgery, the risk of complications, such as perforation or infection, is high.
Recent studies have reported fewer problems with antibiotic therapy than surgery in patients with uncomplicated appendicitis, but results have been inconclusive, and some of these studies have been retracted by the researchers.
Source: International News Network
Category: Features, Pharmaceuticals
