Evaluation and Nonoperative Management of Colonic Diverticular Disease

Abstract

Diverticulitis is an increasingly common problem within the Western population. For the vast majority of patients with diverticulitis, nonoperative management is the preferred treatment method. In this review, we examine the current evidence related to the evaluation and treatment acute diverticulitis to further clarify its nonoperative management strategies. Our review finds little high-level evidence to guide management decisions. Given this absence of evidence, physicians need to exercise judgment and avoidance of unnecessary risk in the treatment of diverticulitis. There also appears to be evidence that inpatient management is overused, but the extent to which this is the case is difficult to quantify.