diverticulitis

Also known as Diverticulitis (disorder), Diverticulitis (morphologic abnormality), Diverticulitis NOS, Diverticulitis NOS (disorder), Diverticulitis unspecified (disorder), digestive tract diverticulum inflammation, digestive tract diverticulumitis, colonic diverticulitis

Key facts

Medical condition.caption: Section of the large bowel (sigmoid colon) showing multiple pouches (diverticula). The diverticula appear on either side of the longitudinal muscle bundle (taenium), which runs horizontally across the specimen in an arc.
Medical condition.field: General surgery
Medical condition.symptoms: Abdominal pain, fever, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, blood in the stool
Medical condition.complications: Abscess, fistula, bowel perforation
Medical condition.onset: Sudden, age > 50
Medical condition.causes: Uncertain
Medical condition.risks: Obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, family history, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
Medical condition.diagnosis: Blood tests, CT scan, colonoscopy, lower gastrointestinal series
Medical condition.differential: Irritable bowel syndrome
Medical condition.prevention: Mesalazine, rifaximin
Medical condition.treatment: Antibiotics, liquid diet, hospital admission
Medical condition.frequency: 3.3% (developed world)
Medical condition.name: Diverticulitis
Medical condition.synonyms: Colonic diverticulitis
Medical condition.image: Diverticula, sigmoid colon.jpg

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

11,029 papers

Management of Diverticulitis: A Review.JAMA surgery · 2024
Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, and Treatment of Diverticulitis.Gastroenterology · 2019
Emergency medicine updates: Acute diverticulitis.The American journal of emergency medicine · 2024
Update on the management of sigmoid diverticulitis.World journal of gastroenterology · 2021
Diverticulitis of the colon.Rozhledy v chirurgii : mesicnik Ceskoslovenske chirurgicke spolecnosti · 2025

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Image: Diverticula, sigmoid colon.jpg

Show 4 more facts

NCI Thesaurus ID: C26752
exact match: identifiers.org/doid/DOID:7475
Commons category: Diverticulitis
ICPC 2 ID: D92

Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

~20 min read

Article

31 sections

Contents

Signs and symptoms
Complications
Causes and prevention
Factors associated with increased diverticulitis risk
Genetics
Presence of other ill-health
Frequency of bowel movement
Weight
Diet
Pathology
Diagnosis
Classification by severity
Uncomplicated vs complicated
Classification systems
Smoldering diverticulitis
Differential diagnoses
Prognosis
Treatment
Diet
Medication
Antibiotics
Mesalamine
Surgery
Technique
Approach
Maneuvers
Bowel resection with colostomy
Prophylactic endoscopic clipping
Epidemiology
References
External links

Diverticulitis, also called colonic diverticulitis, is a gastrointestinal disease characterized by inflammation of abnormal pouches—diverticula—that can develop in the wall of the large intestine. Symptoms typically include lower abdominal pain of sudden onset, but the onset may also occur over a few days. There may also be nausea, diarrhea or constipation. Fever or blood in the stool suggests a complication. People may experience a single attack, repeated attacks, or ongoing "smoldering" diverticulitis.

The causes of diverticulitis are unclear. Risk factors may include obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, a family history of the disease, and use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The role of a low fiber diet as a risk factor is unclear. Having pouches in the large intestine that are not inflamed is known as diverticulosis. Inflammation occurs in 10% and 25% at some point in time and is due to a bacterial infection. Diagnosis is typically by CT scan. However, blood tests, colonoscopy, or a lower gastrointestinal series may also be supportive. The differential diagnoses include irritable bowel syndrome.