[Meckel's diverticulum. Symptoms, diagnosis and treatment]

Meckel's diverticulum is a rare, but serious cause of acute abdominal pain. The prevalence of Meckel's diverticulum is 2% and lifetime risk of illness in a diverticulum is 4.2%. The risk declines with age and approaches zero after the age of 70. Morbidity after resection of symptomatic Meckel's diverticulum is 11.1-17.6% with 6.0-7.5% mortality. The morbidity rate for resection of incidentally discovered diverticulum is 1.2-8.9%. Symptoms and complications are related to age. Below the age of one year the most prevalent complication is gastrointestinal obstruction. Later in childhood the most dominating complication is peptic ulcer with serious gastrointestinal bleeding, while various kinds of gastrointestinal obstruction and diverticulitis are most prevalent in adults. The treatment of symptomatic Meckel's diverticulum is resection. However, the treatment of incidentally discovered Meckel's diverticulum is a subject of dispute. After a thorough study of the literature we conclude that resection should be the routine for all incidentally discovered Meckel's diverticulums in persons younger than 40. After this age resection should be reserved for patients with palpable stigmata of heterotopic tissue, diverticulums of some length and the presence of omphaloenteric- or omphalodiverticulare chords.