Abstract

MARTIN AREVALO, J. et al. Early use of CT in the management of acute diverticulitis of the colon. Rev. esp. enferm. dig. [online]. 2007, vol.99, n.6, pp.320-324. ISSN 1130-0108.

Objectives: to assess the early use of CT for the diagnosis, staging, and management of acute diverticulitis. Materials and methods: a prospective study of 102 patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute diverticulitis of the left colon. Acute diverticulitis was initially divided into 3 clinical stages. Patients were restaged according to CT findings into stages I, IIa, IIb, and III. Diagnosis was subsequently confirmed intraoperatively or by colonoscopy or barium studies. Results: 102 patients (52 females and 50 males, mean age of 59.4 (SD + 14.96 years)) were included; 84 (82.35%) patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute diverticulitis were confirmed to suffer this disease for a diagnostic error of 17.65% (n=18). Acute diverticulitis was diagnosed by CT in 84.3% (n=86). CT had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 88.9%. CT changed clinical stage for 38% of patients - because of understaging in 13% and of overstaging in 25%. When stages II and III were analyzed separately, 60 and 50% were overstaged, respectively. The reclassification of patients according to CT results had a significant impact on treatment. Conclusions: Early clinical staging with CT avoids diagnostic clinical errors in 17.65% of patients. CT changes the initial clinical staging of acute episodes in 38% of cases, thus avoiding unnecessary delays in surgery for severe cases, and unnecessary surgeries for mild cases.

Keywords : Colonic diverticulitis; Sigmoid diverticulitis; Computerized tomography.

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