Every year, 300,000 Americans with appendicitis are rushed into emergency surgery. Most think that if the appendix is not immediately removed, it will burst — with potentially fatal consequences.

But now some doctors say there may another option: antibiotics.

Five small studies from Europe, involving a total of 1,000 patients, indicate that antibiotics can cure some patients with appendicitis; about 70 percent of those who took the pills did not require surgery.

Patients who wound up having an appendectomy after trying antibiotics first did not face any more complications that those who had surgery immediately.

“These studies seem to indicate that antibiotics can cure appendicitis in many patients,” said Dr. David Talan, a specialist in emergency medicine and infectious diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles. “You at least have the chance of avoiding surgery altogether.”