After century of removing appendixes, doctors find antibiotics can be enough

Post by lgunsch » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 9:41 PM UTC

paavoova wrote: post #150

gwbas1c wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or are the antibiotics for dealing with an actual ruptured appendix If your appendix ruptures, it is life threatening and has to come out. Most appendix removals happen before the appendix ruptures. The conclusion of the study is that high doses of antibiotics is an effective way to prevent the appendix from rupturing without surgery.

> If your appendix ruptures, it is life threatening and has to come out. It is life-threatening, but it most certainly doesn't have to come out for full recovery. In some cases, it's impossible to remove due to the infection (inflammation, abscess) obfuscating its location. The treatment is aggressive intravenous antibiotics for a period of time, then oral antibiotics. The statics for recurrence after recovery I've h…

Post by hellofunk » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 10:11 PM UTC

lgunsch wrote: post #179

hellofunk wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A ruptured appendix would not likely be resolved with antibiotics, I'd think. But catching appendicitis before it ruptures would be a less critical issue.

It definitely can, mine fully ruptured and I didn't find out till 4 days later. It requires very strong antibiotics, but did work good. My appendix came out 3 months later in a normal way.

Post by agumonkey » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 10:48 PM UTC

krylon wrote: post #47

bookofjoe wrote: post #32

Somewhat OT but interesting: "When [Kurt] Semm introduced laparoscopic surgery at the University of Kiel, he had to undergo a brain scan at the request of coworkers as 'only a person with brain damage would perform such laparoscopic surgery.' On September 13, 1980, Semm performed the first laparoscopic appendectomy, opening up the path for a much wider application of minimally invasive surgery. At first, his operatio…

It's weird in retrospect. When my grandfather had his gall bladder removed (late 1960s, I think), he spent about 4-6 weeks in hospital and another couple of weeks at home recovering; last year, I had my gall bladder removed, they sent me home after three days. Now that's progress!

Post by sandworm101 » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 11:12 PM UTC

cimmanom wrote: post #158

sandworm101 wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hands and feet are also very useful ... until they turn septic and need to be removed. Antibiotics can treat infections in the early stages if diagnosed well ahead of time. But once an organ is totally taken by infection it may be unrecoverable. Either you remove it or it becomes a lump of dead tissue spreading evil to the rest of the body. By the time someone is in the emergency room due to abdominal pain, by the ti…

Pretty sure the whole point of this article is that often enough patients arrive in the emergency room at a point where it's NOT too late to treat successfully with antibiotics.

Post by DoreenMichele » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 12:02 AM UTC