Operations for appendicitis could be a thing of the past

ANTIBIOTICS have been found to be just as effective in treating appendicitis as removing the appendix. It means that routine appendectomies, a common surgical procedure, could become a thing of the past.
The operation is carried out when the appendix becomes inflamed and infected. If untreated, it can be fatal. But now, doctors are calling for operations as a first course of treatment to be scrapped after a study found that antibiotics worked just as well.
The results of the trial found the majority of patients who were treated with antibiotics did not then require surgery. The study involved 530 patients with appendicitis being divided into two groups. Half received an appendectomy, with all but one recovering successfully. The other half were instead given antibiotics for ten days, after which 73 per cent recovered fully while the remaining 27 per cent then had their appendix removed.
The researchers said that of these patients who later went on to have the surgery, there was no complications or adverse effects for having the surgery delayed due to the antibiotics.