Acute postoperative diverticulitis.

Acute diverticulitis following surgery is a severe condition reported previously only after heart surgery. Four cases of diverticulitis in the early postoperative period are presented, three of them after non-cardiac procedures (tracheostomy, inguinal hernia repair and laminectomy). Advanced age, administration of morphine, treatment with steroids, postoperative constipation and intestinal mucosal ischaemia are discussed as possible aetiological factors leading to diverticular perforation. Although the diagnosis is often difficult, early treatment offers the best chance of survival.

[Vesico-sigmoidal fistulas. Evaluation of the diagnostic performance of the complementary tests in our series]. / Fístulas vésico-sigmoideas. Valoración del rendimiento diagnóstico de las pruebas complementarias en nuestra serie.

We analyzed 14 cases of colovesical fistula that had been diagnosed and treated at the urology and gastroenterology and general surgery services of our hospital from 1986-1990. In 85.7% of the cases, the fistula had been caused by a tumor (adenocarcinoma of the colon) and in 14.3% by inflammatory disease (diverticulitis of the colon). All patients presented a varying degree of micturition syndrome; 30% had pneumaturia and 40% fecaluria. Cystoscopy proved to be the most effective in diagnosing colovesical fistula. It permitted visualization of the fistula or passage of fecal material to the bladder in 33% of the cases, while indirect endoscopic signs could be observed in 100%. Furthermore, it permitted the anatomopathological diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the colon in 5 cases. We performed one-stage en bloc radical surgery in 57% of the cases, shotgun barrel discharge colostomy in 2 cases, exploration laparotomy in 3 and treatment was withheld in 1 case. The overall survival for the group submitted to radical surgery was 19.5 +/- 8.0 months. There were 4 deaths from metastasis, 2 from sepsis originating in the abdomen and the remaining deaths were due to iliofemoral venous thrombosis, cardiovascular disease and pneumopathy.