Acute Appendectomy

The field of medicine is constantly evolving as new research is conducted daily. As a healthcare provider it can be easy to manage patients “the way it has always been done” since that is still often an effective treatment method. However, just because a method of treatment has been known for a longer period of time, that does not mean it is the only treatment option still, or even the best treatment method. It’s important to stay up to date on current research that can provide options to the patients when it comes to their care. For example, for over one hundred years the accepted treatment for appendicitis has been for the patient to undergo either an open or laparoscopic appendectomy.1 Recently, there has been increased interest and research to see if antibiotics can be an efficacious alternative to an appendectomy in …show more content…
The study’s goal was to see whether or not antibiotics could be effective in treating cases of acute appendicitis in an unselected population.3 Patients over the age of 18 with provider confirmed appendicitis were included in the study. Since the study wanted this to be an unselected population, eligible patients were accepted regardless of whether they were male or female, or had uncomplicated or perforated appendicitis. In order to randomize the trial with no bias, eligible participants with odd birth dates were allotted to the study group being treated with antibiotics and participants with even dates of birth were allotted to the appendectomy group.3(p2) To remain ethical, patients were allowed to request a change in placement though. 202 patients were assigned to receive antibiotics, but 96 opted to have an appendectomy. Of the 369 patients in the trial, 106 received antibiotics and 263 patients had an