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Acute AppendicitisNCT01697059

Initial Antibiotics and Delayed Appendectomy for Acute Appendicitis

A study testing Piperacillin + Amoxicillin in people with Acute Appendicitis, run by Rhode Island Hospital at 1 site in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

Several recent studies have examined the feasibility and benefits of nonoperative treatment of perforated appendicitis in children. One such study showed a trend toward longer operative times for patients randomized to immediate appendectomy, but no overall advantage. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 5 to 18 years
Conditions the study is for
Acute Appendicitis
What is being tested?
Piperacillin + Amoxicillin
Type of treatment
Injection or infusion
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
73 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
Sep 2012to May 2015
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 5 to 18 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Child, Adult

Who may be able to join

  • Maximum 48-hour-history of abdominal pain
  • Diagnosis of acute appendicitis based on clinical, laboratory and/or radiologic criteria

Who cannot join

  • Duration of symptoms > 48 hours
  • Presence of an appendiceal abscess on imaging
  • Clinical or laboratory suspicion of advanced appendicitis, peritonitis or perforation
  • Significant comorbidities
  • Inability or unwillingness to complete a 1-week course of oral antibiotics
  • Allergy to penicillin

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • Hasbro Children's Hospital (Rhode Island Hospital)

    Providence, Rhode Island, 02905

Other trials in United States

About this study

Several recent studies have examined the feasibility and benefits of nonoperative treatment of perforated appendicitis in children. One such study showed a trend toward longer operative times for patients randomized to immediate appendectomy, but no overall advantage. In another larger study, the costs of delayed appendectomy for perforated appendicitis were higher - in part related to readmissions in the interval (6-8 weeks). Nevertheless, these and other studies have demonstrated the safety of delaying appendectomy for perforated appendicitis.

Emergency appendectomy is a well-established approach, and postoperative recovery in children is fast. Nevertheless, from the onset of symptoms through the hospital stay and the postoperative recovery, appendicitis causes a disruption of a family's normal routine (absence from school and work) of up to 1-2 weeks. Because this is an unplanned operation, patients have to wait until an operating room becomes available, or elective operations have to be placed on hold to accommodate the emergency operation. Each year, more than 250 children undergo an appendectomy at HCH. This represents 250 episodes of emergency surgery, or about one emergency add-on operation per working day. If an initial trial of antibiotics is safe for the treatment of appendicitis, converting an emergency operation into an elective, scheduled outpatient procedure may reduce stress and disruption of routine for patients and their families - and may allow better operating room planning for health care professionals and hospitals.

Read more

The investigators hypothesize that initial antibiotic treatment of acute (non-perforated) appendicitis, followed by scheduled outpatient appendectomy, reduces the overall cost of treating the disease and results in greater patient and family satisfaction.

This pilot study aims to establish the safety and feasibility of treating acute appendicitis with intravenous antibiotics, followed by outpatient oral antibiotics. Patients and their families will be offered the possibility of initial nonoperative treatment and subsequent outpatient elective appendectomy in a nonrandomized, single arm study.

Being tested
Piperacillin + Amoxicillin
Keywords
appendicitis
Medical subject headings
Appendicitis

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Piperacillin + AmoxicillinDrug

    Also called Zosyn®, Augmentin®

Study groups in NCT01697059
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Piperacillin + AmoxicillinExperimentalPiperacillin/Tazobactam (Zosyn®) 100 mg/kg, up to adult dose of 3 g, i.v. q 6 hours x 2 doses, followed by Ampicillin/Clavulanate (Augmentin®) 50 mg/kg/d p.o. in 3 divided doses for 1 week.
Receives: Drug: Piperacillin + Amoxicillin

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Number of treatment failures

    If after a period of at least 8 hours (and 2 doses of intravenous antibiotics), the patient's symptoms worsen, or fail to subside within 18 hours, the patient will undergo an emergent/urgent appendectomy, and treatment will proceed as per standard-of-care (1 intraoperative dose of antibiotics, with or without postoperative antibiotics, progressive postoperative diet and discharge home once tolerating a regular diet). The patient will then be considered having failed nonoperative treatment.

    Measured: Worsening of symptoms at 8 hours or failure of improvement at 18 hours of treatment

Secondary outcomes (1)
  1. Cost-saving of initial nonoperative treatment for early appendicitis

    Cost of nonoperative treatment will be calculated as follows: Hospitalization charges (# hospital days - observation) + costs of antibiotics (actual number of doses/days) + outpatient surgery hospital fee (operating room and PACU time) + additional costs associated with unanticipated events (e.g., Emergency room visits after initial discharge).

    Control costs (contemporary data) will consider the following: Hospitalization charges (# hospital days) + intravenous antibiotics (price/dose x number of doses).

    Measured: 1 year

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted2 Oct 2012 (estimated)
  2. Study startSep 2012
  3. Primary completionMay 2015
  4. Study completionMay 2015

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
73 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT01697059
Sponsor's protocol ID
RIH408212
Status last verified
May 2015
First submitted
24 Sep 2012
Last updated
6 May 2015
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No

Publications

  • Narsule CK, Kahle EJ, Kim DS, Anderson AC, Luks FI. Effect of delay in presentation on rate of perforation in children with appendicitis. Am J Emerg Med. 2011 Oct;29(8):890-3. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2010.04.005. Epub 2010 Jul 13.

    PubMed 20627213
  • Powers RJ, Andrassy RJ, Brennan LP, Weitzman JJ. Alternate approach to the management of acute perforating appendicitis in children. Surg Gynecol Obstet. 1981 Apr;152(4):473-5.

    PubMed 7209777
  • St Peter SD, Aguayo P, Fraser JD, Keckler SJ, Sharp SW, Leys CM, Murphy JP, Snyder CL, Sharp RJ, Andrews WS, Holcomb GW 3rd, Ostlie DJ. Initial laparoscopic appendectomy versus initial nonoperative management and interval appendectomy for perforated appendicitis with abscess: a prospective, randomized trial. J Pediatr Surg. 2010 Jan;45(1):236-40. doi: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2009.10.039.

    PubMed 20105610
  • Styrud J, Eriksson S, Nilsson I, Ahlberg G, Haapaniemi S, Neovius G, Rex L, Badume I, Granstrom L. Appendectomy versus antibiotic treatment in acute appendicitis. a prospective multicenter randomized controlled trial. World J Surg. 2006 Jun;30(6):1033-7. doi: 10.1007/s00268-005-0304-6.

    PubMed 16736333
  • Yardeni D, Hirschl RB, Drongowski RA, Teitelbaum DH, Geiger JD, Coran AG. Delayed versus immediate surgery in acute appendicitis: do we need to operate during the night? J Pediatr Surg. 2004 Mar;39(3):464-9; discussion 464-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2003.11.020.

    PubMed 15017571

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Piperacillin + Amoxicillin in people with Acute Appendicitis, run by Rhode Island Hospital at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 6 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 6 May 2015. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Number of treatment failures (time frame: Worsening of symptoms at 8 hours or failure of improvement at 18 hours of treatment). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT01697059, which also lists 5 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 6 May 2015.

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