[Treatment for diverticulitis not thoroughly researched]

In the Netherlands approximately 14,000 patients are referred to hospital for diverticular disease each year. Overall controversy persists about four aspects of treatment of the different stages of diverticulitis, i.e. the role of antibiotics in the treatment of mild diverticulitis, the question of whether elective surgical resection is justified in recurrent diverticulitis or in persisting abdominal symptoms after an episode of diverticulitis, the question of whether patients with purulent peritonitis due to perforation may be treated with laparoscopic peritoneal lavage instead of Hartmann's procedure, and finally, whether resection with a primary anastomosis is a feasible and safe alternative to Hartmann's procedure in the surgical treatment of Hinchey III or IV diverticulitis. These questions will be addressed in four upcoming Dutch randomised trials.