More than half of patients treated non-operatively for acute appendicitis did not experience recurrence and avoided surgery over two decades of follow-up, according to Swedish doctors.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm looked at long-term outcomes (19-26 years) among participants in the first two randomised clinical trials comparing appendectomy to non-operative treatment for appendicitis.

Among 292 combined participants, 259 were traceable in the Swedish National Patient Registry through the follow-up period; 122 patients underwent appendectomy while 137 did not.

Both trials were conducted in Sweden in the 1990s, according to a research letter in JAMA Surgery by lead author, paediatric surgeon Dr Barbora Pátková and colleagues.