In case of acute appendicitis, antibiotic treatment can sometimes avoid surgery. The risk of failure of treatment is greater, but when it works, children get back more easily.
- A study compared the effectiveness of antibiotics and surgery in the treatment of appendicitis.
- Medicines are less effective than appendicectomy.
- But they are more easily tolerated by children, because they allow you to recover more quickly.
Strong pain, fevers and digestive disorders: acute appendicitis is particularly painful. Each year, thousands of people are operated on with an appendicectomy, an ablation of the appendix in France. According to the latest health insurance data, 83,400 interventions were carried out in 2012. In Tea Lancetresearchers reveal that these operations could be replaced by antibiotic treatment, in some cases.
A vast study to compare the effects of antibiotics and surgery in the event of appendicitis
This study was carried out by scientists from around the world: United States, Singapore, Canada, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Finland and Sweden. They recruited nearly 1,000 children, aged 5 to 16, and all with uncompiped appendicitis. The latter term means that the appendix did not break out, a complication which can evolve in peritonitis. “”The study, known as Appy study, is the first randomized pediatric trial on its genre“, Specify the authors in a press release. Their objective was to compare the effects of antibiotic treatment compared to the traditional appendectomy.
Appendicitis: antibiotics are less effective but more easily tolerated
This trial shows that antibiotic treatment is not as effective as surgery: there is a higher risk of treatment and recurrence failure. In the group of children treated with antibiotics, the failure rate was 34 %, compared to 7 % in the group of operated children. No serious deaths or side effects have been reported in the two groups. If the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment is less important than surgery, scientists believe that it is still a viable option. It must be envisaged after consulting the children and their parents. “”One of the advantages of antibiotic treatment is that children can regain normal life faster “they underline.
Antibiotics or appendectomy: other studies to assess their effectiveness
According to them, these works raise new questions. “”There are still reasons to believe that some children with appendicitis could be treated effectively with antibiotics and may not even require hospitalization“, they assume. Other studies are underway to assess whether treatmentless treatment, based solely on pain management, could also be effective.
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