Postoperative Use of Antibiotics in Adults with Non-perforated Appendicitis Subjected to Open Appendectomy

Abstract

Acute appendicitis is the most common cause of acute abdominal pain necessitating appendicectomy. The aim of this study was to determine the role of postoperative antibiotics in non-perforated appendicitis regarding; superficial site infections (SSIs), deep site infections (DSIs), complications and the length of hospital stay. This prospective study was carried out on 112 patients diagnosed as acute appendicitis at the Emergency Hospital, General Surgery Department, Tanta University Hospital from March 2014 to April 2016. The patients classified into two groups: Group 1: patients who received postoperative antibiotics, these included 55 patients and Group 2: patients who did not receive postoperative antibiotics and these included 57 patients. The patients subjected to open appendectomy through a standard Grid-Iron incision. The patients' characteristics, ultrasound findings, antibiotics regimen, operative diagnosis, length of hospital stay, wound infection, complications and histopathological findings were analysed using SPSS V 20. Out of 112 patients, 72 patients were male and 40 patients were female. The patients' age ranged from 18 to 55 years with a mean age of 26 years. There is no significant difference regarding patient's age, sex, medical comorbidities, fever, radiologic findings or operative time between the two groups. Treatment with postoperative antibiotics did not significantly reduce the risk of developing superficial SSIs, DSIs. The patients received postoperative antibiotics were significantly more likely to sustain urinary tract infection (P=0.03) a postoperative diarrhea (P = 0.02), increased risk of Clostridium difficile infection (P =0.01) with higher rates of both readmission (P= 0.08) and reoperation (P = 0.07) with a significantly longer hospital stay (2.6 vs 1.4 days, P = 0.001). The use of postoperative antibiotic treatment for nonperforated appendicitis did not reduce the infectious complications while increasing postoperative morbidity and increase the length of hospital stay.