What is appendicitis? The suffix ‘itis’ and root “appendix” refer to the inflammation of the appendix, a small pouch in the digestive system whose anatomical function is largely unclear. Symptoms of appendicitis include abdominal pain beginning near the belly button and moving to the right abdomen, nausea and/or vomiting, a low-grade fever, and decreased appetite. Consequently, there has been some new research about alternative treatments for appendicitis as the rate of mortality is high if the condition is left untreated.
The main treatment for appendicitis, which is confirmed by an abdominal CT scan, over the last century has been surgically removing the appendix in a procedure known as an appendectomy. Removing the appendix has a 99% success rate. However, research has also been conducted over the years to investigate whether antibiotics could be used as an alternative treatment, which has resulted in no remarkable data to suggest that antibiotics are a better option than surgery. A 2016 study of 1,116 patients investigated the role of antibiotics in appendicitis. It was found that utilizing antibiotics as the primary treatment of mild appendicitis reduced the number of surgeries by 92% in the first month, but 23 out of 100 patients developed a recurrence of appendicitis and had to have their appendix subsequently removed by surgery.
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Furthermore, one caveat of prescribing antibiotics for common cases like appendicitis is the possible contribution to antibiotic drug resistance.
However, as an alternative to surgery, antibiotics are a noninvasive treatment option that individuals be more comfortable with few remarkable adverse effects, especially in pediatric populations. A study conducted at the University of Southhampton in 2017 reviewed existing literature over the course of ten years following 413 children who received noninvasive treatment such as antibiotics over surgical removal of the appendix and did not find any remarkable safety concerns except a recurrence rate of appendicitis of 14%.
With each passing year, there is growing exploration of alternative treatments to surgery, which itself poses a possibility of post-operative complications and fear particularly in children. Although there is no concrete evidence to suggest one treatment is superior to the other, medicine is a rapidly expanding arena that continues to develop new treatment options that will hopefully decrease risks and maximize patient safety and health benefits.
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