Safe resection for diverticular disease of the colon.

A retrospective study of 83 patients undergoing surgery for diverticular disease over two years at a colorectal specialty hospital was undertaken to assess the safety of resection. No patient had free perforation. Eighty-nine percent of 46 patients with neither abscess nor fistula underwent resection and primary anastomosis, the remainder undergoing other resectional therapy; there was no mortality in this group. Of the 37 patients with abscesses, fistulas, or both, all had resections with or without primary anastomoses and one of these 37 patients died (2.7 percent mortality). In the entire series of 83 patients, the operative mortality was 1.2 percent, although 69 percent had morbidity. Resection can be performed safely for diverticulitis, and primary anastomosis can be safely added in uncomplicated and selected complicated cases.