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AAP Grand Rounds 3:21-22 (2000)
© 2000 American Academy of Pediatrics

INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Duration of Antibiotic Use in Complicated Appendicitis

Source: Hoelzer D, Zabel D, Zern J. Determining duration of antibiotic use in children with complicated appendicitis. Ped Inf Dis J. 1999;18:979–982.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Previous articles have suggested post-operative, parenteral antibiotic therapy should be given for 3 to 14 days in patients with perforated or gangrenous appendicitis.1,2 Hoelzer et al prospectively assessed the safety of 3 criteria for discontinuing antibiotics: eating, being afebrile (<38°C) for 24 hours and having normal WBC count with <3% band forms. Thirty-three consecutive patients, mean age 8.7 years (range 2–17 years), were enrolled in this study in Wilmington, Delaware; 32 met criteria for discontinuing antibiotic therapy, in 3 cases after requiring a second surgical procedure during the initial hospitalization. Patients were treated with fluid resuscitation, appendectomy, and antibiotics. Thirty-one of the 32 patients who met . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Stanford T. Shulman, MD, FAAP
Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL