An unrestricted diet for uncomplicated diverticulitis is safe: results of a prospective diverticulitis diet study.

AIM: The optimal diet for uncomplicated diverticulitis is unclear. Guidelines refrain from recommendation due to lack of objective information. The aim of the study was to determine whether an unrestricted diet during a first acute episode of uncomplicated diverticulitis is safe. METHOD: A prospective cohort study was performed of patients diagnosed with diverticulitis for the first time between 2012 and 2014. Requirements for inclusion were radiologically proven modified Hinchey Ia/b diverticulitis, American Society of Anesthesiologists class I-III and the ability to tolerate an unrestricted diet. Exclusion criteria were the use of antibiotics and suspicion of inflammatory bowel disease or malignancy. All included patients were advised to take an unrestricted diet. The primary outcome parameter was morbidity. Secondary outcome measures were the development of recurrence and ongoing symptoms. RESULTS: There were 86 patients including 37 (43.0%) men. All patients were confirmed to have taken an unrestricted diet. There were nine adverse events in seven patients. These consisted of readmission for pain (five), recurrent diverticulitis (one) and surgery (three) for ongoing symptoms (two) and Hinchey Stage III (one). Seventeen (19.8%) patients experienced continuing symptoms 6 months after the initial episode and 4 (4.7%) experienced recurrent diverticulitis. CONCLUSION: The incidence of complications among patients taking an unrestricted diet during an initial acute uncomplicated episode of diverticulitis was in line with that reported in the literature.

[Dietary prevention and treatment of diverticular disease of the colon]. / PostEpowanie dietetyczne w profilaktyce i leczeniu choroby uchyLkowej jelita grubego.

Diverticular disease is more often categorized as a civilization disease that affects both women and men, especially at an old age. The pathophysiology remains complex and arises from the interaction between dietary fiber intake, bowel motility and mucosal changes in the colon. Obesity, smoking, low physical activity, low-fiber diet (poor in vegetables, fruit, whole grain products, seeds and nuts) are among factors that increase the risk for developing diverticular disease. Additionally, the colonic outpouchings may be influenced by involutional changes of the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, the fiber rich diet (25-40 g/day) plays an important role in prevention, as well as nonpharmacological treatment of uncomplicated diverticular disease. The successful goal of the therapy can be achieved by well-balanced diet or fiber supplements intake. Research indicate the effectiveness of probiotics in dietary management during the remission process. Moreover, drinking of appropriate water amount and excluding from the diet products decreasing colonic transit time - should be also applied.

[Follow-up and dietary advice after sigmoid diverticulitis]. / Suivi et conseils diét6téques dans la diverticulose colique et ses complications.

Currently published data do not demonstrate the benefit of any medical treatment in the prevention of the onset or the recurrence of colonic diverticular disease. No specific diet can be recommended to patients with colonic diverticula for the prevention of diverticular disease. Non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as well as corticosteroids should be used cautiously in patients with diverticular disease since they induce a higher rate of complications, especially diverticular haemorrhage and severe sigmoid diverticulitis. In patients over 50 years old, or if a sigmoidectomy is needed, physicians should perform a colonoscopy in order to rule out colonic polyps or neoplasm.

[Medical treatment of sigmoid diverticulitis]. / Traitement médical des diverticulites sigmoïdiennes.

Acute diverticulitis is defined by diverticular and peridiverticular inflammation and infection and is efficiently treated medically in most of the cases. For most patients, outpatient treatment is possible and hospitalization is only indicated if the patient is unable to eat, suffers from an acute attack, has diverticulitis related complications or if symptoms fail to improve despite adequate outpatient therapy The treatment of acute uncomplicated diverticulitis usually consists of broad-spectrum antibiotics covering both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Antibiotic therapy is usually administrated for 7 to 10 days but its duration can be longer if any complications occur. If there is no clinical improvement within 2 or 3 days, repeat CT imaging is needed, as this may reveal an abscess, phlegmon or fistula, which may require percutaneous drainage or surgery. The published literature does not support the recommendation of any prophylactic diet or medical treatment for reducing the risk of first or recurrent diverticulitis in patients with diverticulosis.

Therapeutic management of acute uncomplicated diverticulitis.

Acute diverticulitis is a painful disease of the colon characterized by peridiverticular inflammation and/or infection. The spectrum of acute diverticulitis ranges from isolated peridiverticular inflammation all the way to free perforation with purulent or feculent peritonitis. Among gastrointestinal disorders, acute diverticulitis is one of the most common diagnoses in the ambulatory setting and principal hospital discharge diagnoses. Acute diverticulitis accounts for substantial utilization of healthcare resources and is a detriment to patients' quality of life. In the last decade, several cohort studies and trials have significantly improved our understanding of acute diverticulitis. This paper will review the current literature on acute uncomplicated diverticulitis with a focus on therapeutic management.

Colonic diverticula. When complications require surgery and when they don't.

The value of a high-fiber diet in preventing and treating colonic diverticula is firmly established. Although the diagnosis of diverticulosis is usually made with colonoscopy or barium enema examination, computed tomography has become the test of choice during acute diverticulitis, when the diagnosis cannot be confidently made clinically. Recently developed surgical principles for diverticulitis include radiographically directed drainage with delayed operation for peridiverticular abscess, resection of the site of disease in patients with general peritonitis, and primary anastomosis in most cases requiring urgent intervention. Diverticulosis accompanied by abdominal pain or irregular bowel habits is by itself rarely an indication for surgery. Diverticular bleeding usually resolves spontaneously, but persistent bleeding can usually be successfully treated with segmental colectomy after localization of the bleeding site with colonoscopy or arteriography.

[Internistic therapy of acute diverticulitis]. / Internistische Therapie der akuten Divertikulitis.

Diverticular disease of the large bowel is very common in Western societies. The clinical pattern reaches from uncomplicated diverticular disease to acute peridiverticulitis, that ultimately afflicts about one in four patients having colonic diverticulosis. The illness may be indolent or fulminant, depending on the degree of colonic spillage and its containment. Therapy is usually medical and consists of "resting" the bowel, administering antibiotics and analgetics. Surgery is reserved for recurrent acute attacks, diffuse peritonitis, abscesses, fistulas, severe diverticular hemorrhage or obstruction. A diet rich in fibers reduces infectious complications.

Is early enteral nutrition dangerous in acute non surgical complicated diverticulitis? About 25 patients fed with oral fiber free energetic liquid diet.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Complicated Acute Colonic Diverticulitis (ACD) is usually treated by parenteral way thus keeping the bowel at rest. To date there are no clear recommendations regarding the route of nutrition administration. We study the safety of early feeding by oral energetic fiber-free liquid diet in non-surgical complicated ACD patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From February 2008 to October 2011, 25 patients were admitted with complicated ACD and took part in this prospective study. Surgical and medical assessments were performed at admission. Initial treatment was given with perfusion, intravenous antibiotics and hydric diet. Within 72 hours of admission, antibiotic therapy was switched to oral administration for 5 up to 15 days depending on the progression of the disease. At the same time the patient received oral liquid fiber-free feeding. Solid but fiber-free diet was introduced 24h hours before discharge. RESULTS: 25 cases of ACD were complicated with covered perforation and/or abscess. Mean hospitalisation time was 10A.4 days. 23 cases had good recovery and discharged, while 1 case progressed to colonic stenosis during hospitalisation, requiring a sigmoidectomy with a one-time anastomosis with good recovery. One patient relapsed his abscess during hospitalisation despite CT guided drainage and required sigmoidectomy with transient ileostomy. The mean daily treatment and nutrition cost for the non-surgical 23 patients was 30 euros. CONCLUSIONS: Early enteral nutrition in complicated ACD is feasible, not harmful, and reduce both, mean hospitalization time and treatment cost. Further studies comparing enteral with parenteral nutrition are necessary to confirm our hypothesis.

Review article: the current and evolving treatment of colonic diverticular disease.

BACKGROUND: Formation of colonic diverticula, via herniation of the colonic wall, is responsible for the development of diverticulosis and consequently diverticular disease. Diverticular disease can be associated with numerous debilitating abdominal and gastrointestinal symptoms (including pain, bloating, nausea, constipation and diarrhoea). AIMS: To review the state of treatment for diverticular disease and its complications, and briefly discuss potential future therapies. METHODS: PubMed and recent conference abstracts were searched for articles describing the treatment of diverticular disease. RESULTS: Many physicians will recommend alterations to lifestyle and increasing fibre consumption. Empirical antibiotics remain the mainstay of therapy for patients with diverticular disease and rifaximin seems to be the best choice. In severe or relapsing disease, surgical intervention is often the only remaining treatment option. Although novel treatment options are yet to become available, the addition of therapies based on mesalazine (mesalamine) and probiotics may enhance treatment efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: Data suggest that diverticular disease may share many of the hallmarks of other, better-characterized inflammatory bowel diseases; however, treatment options for patients with diverticular disease are scarce, revolving around antibiotic treatment and surgery. There is a need for a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of diverticular disease to design treatment regimens accordingly.

Case closed? Diverticulitis: epidemiology and fiber.

A major advance in understanding diverticular disease occurred decades ago with the epidemiologic association between fiber intake and the development of diverticular disease. This association has been well documented with investigations into the emergence of diverticular disease in underdeveloped countries where the disease had been virtually unknown before the adoption of a westernized diet, low in fiber. The high frequency of right-sided diverticular disease in Asian countries diverges from what is seen in the West. The physiologic effects of insoluble fiber has been well examined as well, increasing bulk and decreasing transit time, with a deficiency contributing to the high pressures implicated in the physiology which leads to diverticular disease. However, at most, 10% to 25% of individuals with diverticular disease will develop diverticulitis. Risk factors for symptomatic diverticular have been increasingly described in recent years with obesity and red meat intake being of particular importance, in addition to age. However, the known factors poorly identify those at increased risk and the predisposing pathophysiology is incompletely understood as well. Insoluble fiber, but not soluble fiber, has been viewed as the principal component which has been deficient in western diets and is the culprit which leads to the establishment of diverticular disease and in turn, diverticulitis. Soluble fiber and its effect on the intestinal flora is proposed as having significant influence on the development of diverticulitis. This understanding, if demonstrated, would have important implications for the primary and secondary prevention of diverticulitis.

Medical and surgical therapy in diverticular disease: a comparative study.

The course of 132 patients with documented acute diverticulitis was analyzed: 99 patients treated medically and 33 patients treated surgically were followed for an average of 9.2 years. Seventy-three per cent of the medical group and 79% of the surgical group had no further symptoms or hospital admissions as a result of their diverticular disease once they were recovered from the acute episode. For three-quarters of the patients, therefore, acute diverticulitis occurred as a single episode that responded to either medical or surgical management. Considering the morbidity and cost to the patient, the treatment of the patient recovered from acute diverticulitis should be medical, with operation reserved for complications.

Bran tablets and diverticular disease.

Three treatments for patients with symptomatic diverticular disease were compared in a crossover trial. Neither a high-roughage diet (HRD) nor Normacol plus an antispasmodic were as effective as bran tablets, which produced a significant increase in daily stool weight and a decrease in the intestinal transit time. An abnormal rapid electrical rhythm in colonic smooth muscle was found initially in 80% of the patients, but the incidence was reduced by each treatment after one month; it was present in only 40% of patients after treatment with bran tablets. Only bran significantly reduced a high percentage motility to within normal limits. Bran proved to be the most effective treatment, not only in improving the symptoms in patients with diverticular disease but also in returning to normal the abnormal pathophysiological changes. Bran tablets were both convenient and acceptable as well as effective.

Treatment of symptomatic diverticular disease with a high-fibre diet.

The therapeutic value of increasing the daily dietary fibre intake was assessed over 3 months in a double-blind controlled trial of 18 patients. Significantly greater symptomatic relief was obtained by those on a high fibre regimen than by those in the control group, despite a marked initial placebo effect. The effectiveness of a high-fibre diet increased over the 3-month period.

[Diverticular disease of the colon (author's transl)]. / Divertikelkrankheit des Dickdarmes. Internmedizinische Aspekte

Admission diagnosis of 100 patients with diverticular disease of the colon indicated that the clinical features of the disease is still relatively unknown. The most important cardinal symptoms are abdominal complaints, irregular stools and/or bleeding from the large intestine. These symptoms occur with about equql frequency in patients with diverticular disease, whether or not there was evidence of inflammatory complications. If there is clinically manifest diverticulum formation of the colon, the term "diverticular disease" seems appropriate, since transition between diverticulosis and diverticulitis is fluid. In addition to bleeding and attacks of diverticulitis, fistulae and gut narrowing with or without ileus are other complications. Mechanical small-intestinal ileus with involvement of the small intestine in the inflammatory diverticulitis mass was a feature of several of the authors' cases. Low-residue diet is contra-indicated because such food probably plays an important part in the aetiology and pathogenesis of diverticular disease.

[Internal aspects of diverticulosis (author's transl)]. / 56. Internistische Aspekte der Divertikulose und Divertikulitis

Diverticular disease of the colon is, apart from the irritable colon syndrome, by now probably the commonest disorder of the large intestine. The incidence of the disease seems to be increasing, which might be due to fundamental dietary changes during the last 60-80 years. It has been suggested that the condition may be a dietary deficiency disorder caused by an inadequate intake of fiber in the diet. Undiagnosed diverticulosis can suddenly progress to painful diverticular disease or diverticulitis with no warning. Complications are sometimes life-threatening, and they demand immediately surgical intervention. The optimal medical and surgical management of diverticular disease and diverticulitis is not well defined as no controlled clinical trials are available.