Antibiotic treatment while awaiting appendectomy does not lower risk for appendiceal perforation in patients with uncomplicated acute appendicitis, according to a new study.

While the percentage of surgical site infections (SSIs) was small for both groups, patients who received antibiotics during the waiting period had lower rates of these infections.

The trial — titled PERFECT-Antibiotics — was a substudy embedded in a larger PERFECT clinical trial , which aimed to determine whether an in-hospital delay of appendectomy resulted in increased risk for appendiceal perforation when compared to emergent surgery.

The trial “concluded that appendectomy does not need to be performed promptly in acute uncomplicated appendicitis and can be scheduled within 24 hours without increasing complicat

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