[Peridiverticulitis of the colon: confrontation of pre- and postoperative diagnosis (author's transl)]

The authors report their experience with the surgical management of the peridiverticulitis coli (60 cases). It is frequently uneasy to have an accurate pre- and peroperative diagnosis of the nature and the grade of severity of the illness. So, the indication for surgery, the choice of the procedure, and the evaluation of the results are somewhat subjective. The microscopical study of the resected colons give objective data about the status of the bowel. Our pathological findings have shown major inflammatory lesions in the colons which were resected in emergency, in the cases operated upon for stenoses and fistula. On the other hand, when patients underwent an elective surgical procedure, after a primary conservative (medical or surgical) treatment, the inflammation could be absent. The risks of leaving in place some of these colons seem to be small.