Optimizing the Antibiotic Treatment of Uncomplicated Acute Appendicitis

Summary

Appendicectomy has been the treatment of acute appendicitis for over a hundred years. Appendicectomy, however, includes operative and postoperative risks despite being a routine procedure. Several studies have proved promising results of the safety and efficiency of antibiotics in the treatment of acute uncomplicated appendicitis. The APPAC study by the investigators, published in 2015 in the Journal of American Medical Association, also proved promising results with 73% of patients with uncomplicated appendicitis treated successfully with antibiotics. None of the patients initially treated with antibiotics that later had appendectomy had major complications. The results of the APPAC trial suggest that CT proven uncomplicated acute appendicitis is not a surgical emergency and antibiotic therapy is a safe first-line treatment option. Reducing unnecessary appendectomies has also been shown to lead to significant economic savings. The aim of this randomized prospective study is to optimize antibiotic therapy for uncomplicated acute appendicitis by comparing different antibiotic regimens; intravenous antibiotic (ertapenem) followed by per oral antibiotic (levofloxacin and metronidazole) with only per oral antibiotics (moxifloxacin). Before randomization, the diagnosis of acute uncomplicated appendicitis is confirmed with a CT scan. The hypothesis is that broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics requiring additional hospital resources are not necessary for the treatment of uncomplicated acute appendicitis and that per oral mono therapy is non-inferior to the combination of intravenous and per oral antibiotic therapy.

Timeline

Start

2017-04-03

Primary completion

2018-11-27

Completion

2029-04-01

Publications

• Selanne L, Hurme S, Sippola S, Rautio T, Nordstrom P, Rantanen T, Pinta T, Ilves I, Mattila A, Savela EL, Rintala J, Paajanen H, Gronroos J, Haijanen J, Salminen P. Prognostic factors associated with primary non-responsiveness to antibiotics and appendicitis recurrence for CT-diagnosed uncomplicated acute appendicitis: secondary analysis of two randomized clinical trials. Br J Surg. 2025 Jul 3;112(7):znaf143. doi: 10.1093/bjs/znaf143.
• Drake FT, Sanchez SE. Acute Appendicitis-What's Old Is New Again. JAMA Surg. 2024 Jul 1;159(7):735-736. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2023.5946. No abstract available.
• Selanne L, Haijanen J, Sippola S, Hurme S, Rautio T, Nordstrom P, Rantanen T, Pinta T, Ilves I, Mattila A, Rintala J, Marttila H, Merilainen S, Laukkarinen J, Savela EL, Paajanen H, Gronroos J, Salminen P. Three-Year Outcomes of Oral Antibiotics vs Intravenous and Oral Antibiotics for Uncomplicated Acute Appendicitis: A Secondary Analysis of the APPAC II Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Surg. 2024 Jul 1;159(7):727-735. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2023.5947.
• Sippola S, Haijanen J, Gronroos J, Rautio T, Nordstrom P, Rantanen T, Pinta T, Ilves I, Mattila A, Rintala J, Loyttyniemi E, Hurme S, Tammilehto V, Marttila H, Merilainen S, Laukkarinen J, Savela EL, Savolainen H, Sippola T, Aarnio M, Paajanen H, Salminen P. Effect of Oral Moxifloxacin vs Intravenous Ertapenem Plus Oral Levofloxacin for Treatment of Uncomplicated Acute Appendicitis: The APPAC II Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2021 Jan 26;325(4):353-362. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.23525.
• Haijanen J, Sippola S, Gronroos J, Rautio T, Nordstrom P, Rantanen T, Aarnio M, Ilves I, Hurme S, Marttila H, Virtanen J, Mattila A, Paajanen H, Salminen P; APPAC study group. Optimising the antibiotic treatment of uncomplicated acute appendicitis: a protocol for a multicentre randomised clinical trial (APPAC II trial). BMC Surg. 2018 Dec 17;18(1):117. doi: 10.1186/s12893-018-0451-y.

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