Abstract

MANZANARES-CAMPILLO, María del Carmen  and  MARTIN-FERNANDEZ, Jesús. Appendicular pseudodiverticula and acute appendicitis: Our 12-year experience. Rev. esp. enferm. dig. [online]. 2011, vol.103, n.11, pp.582-585. ISSN 1130-0108.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S1130-01082011001100005.

Introduction: the presence of diverticula and their complications in the cecal appendix is an uncommon disease. We present a series of 13 patients with this condition, and perform a review of the literature. Patients and method: we carried out a retrospective study of patients undergoing appendectomy for acute appendicitis in the last twelve years in our department. The pathological examination of these episodes revealed 13 cases with a diagnosis of diverticular disease, all of them consisting of pseudodiverticula. Their clinical manifestations, laboratory results, imaging tests, and histology were analyzed, and findings were compared to those in the previous literature. Results: the incidence of diverticular disease in our setting was 13 cases (0.8%) among 1634 appendectomies for acute appendicitis. Diverticulitis was found in 8 patients (61.5%), and diverticulosis (38.5%) in 5. Appendicular perforation was more common in patients with diverticular disease (53.8%) as compared to those without this condition (31.1%). Conclusions: complicated diverticular disease in the vermiform appendix of adult patients may result in insidious, recurrent manifestations that may confound preoperative diagnosis. A higher risk for appendicular perforation renders appendectomy the therapy of choice, even prophylactically when the condition is incidentally identified preoperatively.

Keywords : Appendicular diverticulosis; Appendicular diverticulitis; Acute appendicitis.

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