Korean J Gastrointest Endosc.  2000 Sep;21(3):704-709.

Endoscopic Diagnosis of Right-Sided Colonic Diverticulitis

• Kwon SU
• Choi ST
• Choi JS
• Lee HJ
• Park CW
• Jang BI
• Kim TN
• Chung MK

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Recently, it has been well known that the incidence of colonic diverticulosis is increasing in Korea. However, cases of right-sided colonic diverticulitis are rare although diverticula are located in right-sided colon more than left-side. The major clinical symptom of right-sided colonic diverticulitis is acute right lower quadrant pain which may mimic acute appendicitis. Therefore, we evaluated the clinical characteristics of the patients with right-sided colonic diverticulitis and safety of the colonoscopic examinations in these patients.
METHODS
The evidence of diverticulitis was confirmed by the presence of pus at the diverticular lesions on colonoscopy. We retrospectively analyzed clinical menifestations, laboratory findings, colonoscopic findings and the presence of complications after colonoscopy, and radiologic findings of the patients with right-sided colonic diverticulitis.
RESULTS
All the patients with right-sided colonic diverticulitis had abdominal pain. Physical examinations showed abdominal tenderness in all patients and leukocytosis was noticed in 8 out of 12 patients (66%). There was no complication during and after colonoscopy. All the patients were managed with conservative treatment including broad-spectrum antibiotics and improved without clinical aggravation.
CONCLUSIONS
The colonoscopic examination may be helpful to diagnose right-sided colonic diverticulitis.

Keyword

Diverticulitis; Colon; Colonoscopy

MeSH Terms

Abdominal Pain
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Appendicitis
Colon*
Colonoscopy
Diagnosis*
Diverticulitis
Diverticulitis, Colonic*
Diverticulosis, Colonic
Diverticulum
Humans
Incidence
Korea
Leukocytosis
Physical Examination
Retrospective Studies
Suppuration
Anti-Bacterial Agents