Appendectomy Versus Non-Operative Treatment For Acute Non-Perforated Appendicitis in Children

"will receive a minimum of 12 hours intravenous antibiotics and then receive oral antibiotics once they have shown clinical improvement (a total course of 10 days of antibiotics (intravenous and oral). They will be discharged home once they meet a standardized set of criteria to be used in all centers.~The choice of antibiotics will vary between centers and will be the antibiotic regimen that is current standard of care in that center allowing each center to maintain current protocols will improve study feasibility and increase generalization of the results."

"will undergo laparoscopic appendectomy within 18 hours of randomization and will receive intravenous antibiotics per each site's standard care, from the time of randomization and post-operatively according to a defined and standardized treatment regimen based on consensus for this trial.~Children with a visibly normal appendix or non-perforated acute appendicitis will receive no further antibiotics; children with perforated appendicitis will continue to receive intravenous antibiotics for a minimum of 3 days, and then per local practice. The type of antibiotics used in each center will be identical to those used in the non-operative treatment group and are not specified by the study."