[Current treatment for diverticulitis: state of affairs in 2016]

- Uncomplicated diverticulitis does not routinely require antibiotic treatment and can even be managed in the outpatient setting.- As yet no medical therapies have proven themselves useful in the prevention of recurrence.- Complicated diverticulitis with an abscess smaller than 4 cm is treated with antibiotics, larger abscesses are treated by percutaneous drainage, and only if treatment fails surgery is required.- Laparoscopic lavage is no better than partial resection in purulent peritonitis.- Perforated diverticulitis with faecal peritonitis is treated by a Hartmann's procedure; in selected cases resection and primary anastomosis may be considered.- The decision whether a resection should be laparoscopic or open is based on the surgeon's experience.- The choice for elective resection for recurrent diverticulitis is still made on a patient-by-patient basis.- Only high-risk patients should have a follow-up colonoscopy to exclude malignancy. The remaining patients are referred back to the Dutch national colorectal cancer screening programme.