New developments in diverticular disease.

Colonic diverticular disease is common but surprisingly poorly understood. Recent advances in the field continue to focus on the introduction of new technology. Diagnosis and assessment of the severity of acute diverticulitis is improved with CT scanning. A specialized bleeding team employing advanced endoscopic techniques can control diverticular bleeding so that emergency surgical resection may be avoided. Selected patients undergoing laparoscopic sigmoid resection may benefit from this approach. The vast majority of reports are from retrospective studies and include few randomized, controlled trials.