[Diverticular disease of the cecal appendix]

Appendiceal diverticula are uncommon, with an incidence of less than 1% in surgical specimens. We report a series of 14 patients with diverticular disease of the cecal appendix.

A total of 547 patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis underwent surgery over 4 years. Of these, 11 patients showed acute appendiceal diverticulitis at histological examination, and three patients showed diverticulosis associated with appendicitis. Clinical features were compared between the group of patients with diverticular disease and the group with acute appendicitis. Statistical analysis was performed using Students t-test and the chi-squared test.

The overall incidence of appendiceal diverticula was 2.6%, and 2% of cases had acute diverticulitis. In the group with diverticular disease, the mean age and the percentage of patients under clinical observation before the decision to perform surgery was made were significantly higher. There was a nonsignificant predominance of male over female patients and no differences were found in mean white cell count. No radiological investigations were performed in the diverticular group.

The incidence of appendiceal diverticula was much higher in our series than that reported in the literature. We found no clinical or perioperative data that would serve to differentiate acute diverticulitis from acute appendicitis.