Great question! These questions were based on surgeons’ inquiries and the increased discussion/practice using abx for acute appy.

Study inclusion was based on the best available data for each PICO question. If you have read the article, you’ll see the data is quite limited. This made the task challenging.

I think the only reason it wasn’t a critical outcome was because the known frequency of malignancy is low. Debatable, I know, but that was the group consensus at the time.

I think clinical judgment reigns supreme. Until more structured RCTs like CODA come out, I would treat on a case-by-case basis.

Yes, this was a challenging PICO given paucity of data. We concluded- given overall low incidence of cancer- RIA in otherwise young healthy pets likely not indicated. Frankly, more studies are needed. Anyone interested?