LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Diverticulitis: Patients
built 643 days ago
With proper treatment and a high-fiber diet, the outlook for people with diverticulosis and uncomplicated diverticulitis is excellent. Most people with diverticulosis never have symptoms. People who are hospitalized for diverticulitis, usually improve within two to four days after treatment begins. Up to 85% of patients recover with bed rest, liquid diet and antibiotics, and most never have a second episode of diverticulitis. The prognosis varies if complications develop and is particularly serious in the case of peritonitis. About 90% of people who have a colon resection do not have symptoms return after the surgery.
Source:
An individual with diverticulitis will experience pain (especially in the lower left side of the abdomen) and fever. In response to the infection and the irritation of nearby tissues within the abdomen, the abdominal muscles may begin to spasm. About 25% of all patients with diverticulitis will have some rectal bleeding, although this rarely becomes severe. Walled-off pockets of infection, called abscesses, may appear within the wall of the intestine, or even on the exterior surface of the intestine. When a diverticulum weakens sufficiently, and is filled to bulging with infected pus, a perforation in the intestinal wall may develop. When the infected contents of the intestine spill out into the abdomen, the severe infection called peritonitis may occur.
Source:
The main initial treatment for diverticulitis is bowl rest, intravenous hydration, and antibiotics. This will work in the majority of patients. If this does not work surgery is required. The risk of surgery during an acute attack of diverticulitis is higher than elective surgery. It is ... true that having surgery during an acute attack increases the likelihood a temporary colostomy would be required. For this reason the usual approach to diverticulitis is to try to resolve the attack without surgery and then try to predict who is most at risk for having additional attacks.
Source:
Diverticulitis is the most common complication of diverticulosis, and it has been reported in 10-20% of patients with diverticulosis. The incidence of diverticulitis increases if the diverticula are numerous, if they have been present for more than a decade, and if they are distributed throughout the colon.
Source:
Diverticulitis most often affects middle-aged and elderly persons, though it can strike younger patients as well. Abdominal obesity may be associated with diverticulitis in younger patients, with some being as young as 20 years old [1].
Source:
An estimated 20-35% of patients with conservatively managed diverticulitis experience a recurrence. One study of 252 conservatively managed patients reported a 50% recurrence of any symptoms in 7 years; ... only 8% of those required surgery for complicated disease. By 13 years, surgery had been performed in 14%. The mortality rate from complications in recurrent disease, of those initially treated conservatively, in this small study was 1%.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Patients