Clinical outcome for management of colonic diverticulitis: characteristics and surgical factor based on two institution data at South Korea

Diagnosis and management of acute colonic diverticulitis: results of a survey among Korean gastroenterologists

BACKGROUND/AIMS

Some management strategies for acute colonic diverticulitis remain controversial in Korean real-world practice because their clinical features differ from those in the West. This study aimed to investigate the opinions of Korean physicians regarding the diagnosis and treatment of acute diverticulitis.

METHODS

A web-based survey was conducted among gastroenterologists specializing on treating lower gastrointestinal disorders. The questionnaires concerned overall management strategies for colonic diverticulitis, including diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up.

RESULTS

In total, 209 gastroenterologists responded to the survey. Less than one-fourth of the respondents (23.6%) answered that left-sided colonic diverticulitis is more likely to be complicated than right-sided colonic diverticulitis. Most respondents agreed that immunocompromised patients with diverticulitis have worse clinical outcomes than immunocompetent patients (71.3%). Computed tomography was the most preferred tool for diagnosing diverticulitis (93.9%). Approximately 89% of the respondents answered that they believed antibiotic treatment is necessary to treat acute uncomplicated diverticulitis. Most respondents (92.6%) agreed that emergency surgery is not required for diverticulitis with an abscess or microperforation without panperitonitis. Further, 94.7% of the respondents agreed that colon cancer screening is necessary in patients aged ≥ 50 years with diverticulitis after they have recovered from acute illness. Many respondents (71.4%) agreed that surgery for recurrent diverticulitis should be individualized.

CONCLUSION

Opinions regarding management strategies for colonic diverticulitis among Korean gastroenterologists were well agreed upon in some areas but did not agree well in other areas. Evidence-based guidelines that meet the practical needs of the Korean population should be developed.

Management and long-term outcomes of acute right colonic diverticulitis and risk factors of recurrence

Background

Acute right-sided colonic diverticulitis (RCD) is a common disease in Asian populations for which the optimal treatment remains controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate management and evaluate long-term outcomes of treatment in patients with acute RCD.

Methods

We retrospectively collected and analyzed clinical data for patients with acute RCD admitted to the Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from December 2015 to December 2020. The patients were divided into two groups, according to primary treatment strategy, which was either conservative treatment or surgical treatment.

Results

A total of 162 consecutive patients with acute RCD were enrolled in the study. There was no significant difference in age, sex, history of abdominal surgery, medical co-morbidities, fever, previous history of RCD, treatment success rate and incidence of complications between the conservative and surgery groups. However, the recurrence rate in conservative groups was significantly higher than in surgery groups (16.53% vs 2.44%, P = 0.020). And more frequent bowel movements and previous history of RCD increased the risk of recurrence of acute RCD. Moreover, there was no significant difference in either treatment success rate or the overall recurrence rate between the patients with uncomplicated diverticulitis and patients with complicated diverticulitis.

Conclusions

Surgical treatment is also safe and effective for acute RCD. Surgical treatment should mainly be considered for patients with acute RCD with recurrence risk factors (more frequent bowel movements and previous history of RCD) or with complicated acute RCD.

Development of a prediction model for clinically important outcomes of acute diverticulitis

OBJECTIVE

Acute diverticulitis (AD) is a common disease with various outcomes. When AD is diagnosed in the emergency department (ED), the ED clinician must determine the patient's treatment strategy whether the patient can be discharged, needs to be admitted to the general ward, ICU, or needs surgical consultation. This study aimed to identify potential risk factors for clinically important outcomes (CIOs) and to develop a prediction model for CIOs in AD to aid clinical decision making in the ED.

METHODS

Retrospective data from between 2013 and 2017 in an ED in an urban setting were reviewed for adult AD. Potential risk factors were age, sex, past medical history, symptoms, physical exams, laboratory results, and imaging results. A CIO was defined as a case with one of the following outcomes: hospital death, ICU admission, surgery or invasive intervention, and admission for 7 or more days. The prediction model for CIOs was developed using potential risk factors. Model discrimination and calibration were assessed using the area under the curve (AUC) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and the Hosmer-Lemeshow (HL) test, respectively. Model validation was conducted using 500 random bootstrap samples.

RESULTS

Of the final 337 AD patients, 63 patients had CIOs. Six potential factors (age, abdominal pain (≥ 3 days), anorexia, rebound tenderness, white blood cell count (> 15,000/μl), C-reactive protein (> 10 mg/dL), and CT findings of a complication) were used for the final model. The AUC (95% CI) for CIOs was 0.875 (0.826-0.923), and χ² was 2.969 (p-value = 0.936) with the HL test. Validation using bootstrap samples resulted in an optimism-corrected AUC of 0.858 (0.856-0.861).

CONCLUSION

A prediction model for clinically important outcomes of AD visiting a single ED showed good discrimination and calibration power with an acceptable range.