Antibiotics for Appendicitis Has Its Downsides

A Finnish group randomized patients with acute appendicitis to surgery and antibiotics and found that antibiotics were successful in 73% of patients. Depending on how this is framed, you can celebrate a 70% success or lament a 30% failure. Much of the debate in healthcare is a battle of framing. The study has limitations. Finland is not just a land of the midnight sun but a land of fewer laparoscopic surgeries than the U.S. This is important because if done properly, laparoscopic surgery has a lower morbidity than open surgery, as Skeptical Scalpel explains. Should we be excited that antibiotics can be used for acute appendicitis? Patients won't need to be opened up. This will be a revolution. A paradigm shift. Right? Maybe. Maybe not.http://www.medpagetoday.com/Blogs/KevinMD/53463?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2015-09-10&eun=g721819d0r