Cecal Diverticulitis

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Cecal diverticulitis is rare but relatively common in Asians including Koreans. Furthermore, most case of cecal diverticulitis can be diagnosed as an acute appendicitis preoperatively. The purpose of this study was to evaluate antibiotic treatment for cecal diverticulitis, identified during laparotomy under the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. METHODS: From January 1995 to June 2001, we reviewed 52 patients with cecal diverticulitis, who were diagnosed as having acute appendicitis preoperatively and treated by conservative treatment, i.e. appendectomy only and postoperative antibiotics. RESULTS: The results were as follows. The male to female ratio and mean age was 1.21 and 33.4 respectively. The mean operative time was 55.4 minutes. The mean hospital stay was 5.9 days. The site of the diverticulitis was mostly located at the cecum (92.3%). Other sites of diverticulitis were the ascending colon in 2 patients, and the cecum and ascending colon in another 2 patients. The number of diverticulitis found was one in 44 patients (84.6%) and multiple in 8 patients (15.4%). Postoperative complications occurred in 6 patients (11.5%). The most common postoperative complication was wound infection, which occurred in 4 patients. There was no recurrence during follow-up. CONCLUSION: When cecal diverticulitis is found incidentally at the time of an emergency operation for acute appendicitis, we conclude that an appendectomy only combined with postoperative antibiotics is a safe, effective, cost-efficient and cosmetic method.