Laparoscopic treatment of caecal diverticulitis

Right-sided diverticulitis is difficult to distinguish from other sources of right-sided abdominal pain and, in particular, is frequently indistinguishable from acute appendicitis preoperatively. Because of the problems concerning preoperative diagnosis and controversies in the management, the choice of the best therapy on the surgeon's part is still open. A total of 1150 patients with a clinical diagnosis of right acute abdomen observed in our surgical department from 1995 to 2003 was analysed. Three patients had a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of caecal diverticulitis. The mean age of the patients was 37 years. Right lower quadrant pain and local tenderness were the only clinical findings in 95.3% of the cases, with a preoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis in 2 of 3 patients. The operative findings were an inflammatory mass in the caecum and the presence of a minimal amount of free peritoneal fluid. Two patients underwent laparoscopic ileocecectomy and one had a diverticulectomy. The postoperative course was uneventful. Because of the difficulties in diagnosis and surgical treatment, caecal diverticulitis has been the subject of much discussion in the literature and many questions remain unanswered. Right-sided diverticulitis is easily confused with acute appendicitis because it occurs at a somewhat younger age than sigmoid diverticulitis. Caecal diverticulitis needs a high index of suspicion for achieving a preoperative diagnosis. Diverticulectomy should be performed in patients with small diverticula with a limited inflammatory reaction. Right colectomy should be performed in patients with perforation of the diverticulum, caecal phlegmon or abscess formation. A correct intraoperative diagnosis is therefore crucial for selection of the surgical procedure. Laparoscopic treatment of a solitary, acutely infected colon diverticulum is feasible in this setting. A minimally invasive procedure could be performed, therefore, in patients with right acute abdomen, allowing not only the right diagnosis but also the treatment of the commonest pathologies responsible for this clinical picture.