Antibiotics first line treatment for most appendicitis patients: CODA study final findings
Antibiotics are now an accepted first-line treatment for most people with appendicitis, according to final results of the Comparing Outcomes of antibiotic Drugs and Appendectomy (CODA) trial.
In this randomized trial comparing antibiotic treatment with appendectomy in patients with appendicitis, the percentage of patients in the antibiotics group who later underwent appendectomy was 40% at 1 year and 46% at 2 years and was higher in patients with an appendicolith.
The CODA study findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"In the first three months after taking antibiotics for the condition, nearly 7 in 10 patients in the antibiotic group avoided an appendectomy. By four years, just under 50% had the surgery," said Dr. David Flum, co-principal investigator and professor and associate chair of surgery at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine. "Other outcomes favored either antibiotics or surgery. Putting it all together, antibiotics look to be the right treatment for many, but probably not all, patients with appendicitis."
https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2116018
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