Dr. Aaron Hartman explains that most uncomplicated appendicitis can be treated with antibiotics alone, with a 2015 study showing 73% success without surgery. The appendix isn't useless—it stores gut bacteria that help restore your microbiome after diarrhea. Many unnecessary appendectomies happen because surgeons and hospitals haven't adopted this evidence-based approach.
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The majority of uncomplicated appendicitis can be treated with antibiotics alone and without surgery. Think about that for a second. In 2015, there's a trial published in JAMA that showed that 73% of uncomplicated appendicitis— that means hasn't perforated, um, it's CT's done, looks to be safe— can be successfully treated with antibiotic alone, avoiding surgery. This later got put in my journal. I learned about it, but this has not been adopted in our country. Surgeons have not adopted it. Hospitals have not adopted it. JCO has not adopted it. It stayed under the radar. This is a blind spot right now in healthcare system. Old data, it's over 10 years old about a better thing for appendicitis, uncomplicated, and we're just not adopting it. Why? This is a, a inertia in our healthcare system. We keep on doing the things that we were taught, the things that we do. It's hard to adopt new ideas and new concepts. This is why you being educated and learning about these blind spots in healthcare system might actually help prevent an unnecessary surgery. Just think about that. One misinformed surgeon not being appropriately up with today with the data might result in surgery you don't need. And by the way, you don't need the appendix anyway, right? That's wrong too. You do need the appendix. It actually stores bacteria for your colon, for your microbiome, which is bacteria in your body. And when you get infectious diarrhea, you clean yourself out, you actually repopulate your colon microbiome from your appendix. So all of a sudden now, your appendix has a purpose. It has a use. And just cutting it out is not optimal, ideal. Obviously, if you have to do it to save your life, that's one thing. But the reality is we have many, too many surgeries in our, in our country done for this. And when you can use antibiotics alone, I would love to hear if there's an example of this with you. If you've had something in your life, a loved one that was unnecessary, you learned out later about, love to share, share it here because these, these medical blind spots, these things we thought were right, were just plain wrong, are significant harm in our country and we need to be educated about so we can avoid these.
