Small Intestine Diverticulitis

Abstract

Table 1Introduction: To report clinical history and management of small bowel diverticulitis seen over a period of 5 years at our institution. Electronic medical records available to our institution were used to gather all the information for these patients. Age at diagnosis, sex, initial presentation, labs, imaging studies, and the anatomic location of diverticulitis, types of treatment, recurrence, and follow-up were recorded and are summarized in the tabular format. Median age of diagnosis of these patients was 86 years. Two were female and one male. They all presented with abdominal pain and all had CT scans in their initial work-up. Diverticuli were mostly found in the region of duodenum and jejunum. They were all managed conservatively even in the face of peripancreatic inflammation and localized perforation. Two out of 3 patients recurred with medical therapy. Each responded to retreatment and none, including the patient with localized perforation and a patient with peripancreatic inflammation, required operation. Small bowel diverticulitis other than non-Meckelian can present as an acute abdomen and should always be kept in differential of acute abdominal findings on examination or cross sectional imaging. Our preliminary results indicate that small bowel non-Meckels diverticulitis can be managed conservatively. This is highly relevant for the age of presentation.