[Colonic diverticulitis: diverticulitis with complications and its treatment (author's transl)]

Complications (stenosis, intestinal obstruction, abscess or fistula formation, inflammation, etc.) of colonic diverticulitis are seen in 35% of patients affected. Multiple operative procedures involve less risk than surgery performed in a single session. The mortality in emergency surgery is reported to be up to 40%, while subsequent resection of the diseased colon involves the usual mortality of surgery on the colon, i.e. 1.5-9%. The vital factor in this illness is the earliest possible surgical treatment of the diseased diverticulum, so that the extremely problematical complications can be avoided.