An alternative option to appendectomies is becoming more mainstream, The Washington Post reported Aug. 17.
For children, appendicitis is the most common cause of emergency surgeries, according to the Post. Since the 1950s, antibiotics have been used in some cases where surgery would risk the appendicitis spreading, but the medicine might benefit more patients.
Multiple studies show that, after children with appendicitis received antibiotic treatment, about two-thirds of them did not undergo an appendectomy within a year of initial treatment.
There are pros and cons to both options, according to the report. Surgery eliminates the possibility of another appendicitis case, and sometimes, surgeons discover precancerous or cancerous growth on the appendix during operations. Appendectomies are far more expensive than antibiotics, though.
Antibiotics might cause reactions in some, including diarrhea and nausea, and receiving the medication now might just precede the need for surgery in the next few months.
"It does seem like we are going to have this gray zone for what is the best way to treat this that's subject to interpretation," Thomas Inge, MD, PhD, surgeon-in-chief at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, told the Post.