Background: Conservative antibiotic treatment for uncomplicated appendicitis is debated because of the unproven criteria for use and relatively high failure rate. We developed inclusion criteria to optimize antibiotic therapy use and compared the success rate to that seen in previous literature.
Methods: Our antibiotic therapy inclusion criteria were developed based on clinical findings (symptom onset ≤48 hours and body temperature ≤38.3℃), laboratory parameters (white blood cell count ≤12000/mL) and radiologic findings (appendiceal diameter ≤12 mm and no appendicolith). Patients who met inclusion criteria were enrolled from three hospitals between 2016 and 2017. Treatment success was defined as a response to antibiotic therapy and no recurrent symptoms within 1 year. We compared our success rate with previous clinical trial success rates.
Results: There were 240 patients enrolled (116 men and 124 women) with a mean age of 38.7 years. After initial antibiotic treatment, 233 patients (97.1%) responded to therapy and were discharged. There were no post-treatment complications with Clavien-Dindo grade ≥III. During the 1-year follow-up period, the treatment success rate was 88.8% (213/240) and the recurrence rate was 8.6% (20/233; 15 underwent surgery and 5 received antibiotics again). In contrast, the combined treatment success rate for six previous clinical trials was 76.5% (573/749) and the recurrence rate was 21.6% (157/727).
Conclusions: The group enrolled with the new inclusion criteria showed an improved treatment success rate compared to previous studies. These criteria will aid in determining optimal conservative treatment use in patients with uncomplicated appendicitis.
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.