When is urgent medical help needed?

You should go to the doctor if unexpectedly severe pain and tenderness occur in the lower abdomen, especially if you feel you may have a temperature. This might indicate that your diverticula have become inflamed and that you have developed diverticulitis. If the doctor suspects diverticulitis you are likely to be prescribed an antibiotic and you may also be advised to take fluids only (rather than solid food) or maybe a low residue diet as a temporary measure. This treatment will rest the bowel and may allow the inflammation to subside. If the condition is severe, admission to hospital may be needed.

Surgical Treatment

After two or more episodes of diverticulitis, you may be advised to have a surgical operation to remove the affected segment of the colon in order to prevent further episodes and, more importantly, prevent a serious complication during a later episode. Approximately one third of those who require urgent admission to hospital for an episode of inflammation require surgical treatment during their stay because an abscess has formed around the colon or infection from the inflamed diverticulum has spread more widely within the abdomen.

It is important to realise that (1) most people with diverticular disease never get any symptoms at all; (2) if symptoms do arise, they are not likely to be serious; (3) relatively few patients ever get complications severe enough for them to be admitted to hospital; (4) very few people die of this very common disease.

What research is needed?

Although we think we know why diverticular disease develops, we do not really know why serious complications sometimes occur. We need to understand much more clearly why some people get diverticulitis – if we understood that, we might be able to prevent it from happening. The development of effective treatments to prevent diverticular disease from getting worse is an important priority.