[Diverticulosis of the small intestine]

Small bowel diverticulosis is a rare disease of gastrointestinal tract that occurs most frequently in older patients. Since this disease can be asymptomatic, for a long time, the diagnosis rarely is made in the preoperative period. In 40% of cases there are acute or chronic complications, most frequently diverticulitis either with or without perforation, bowel obstruction and massive haemorrhage clinically manifested as bleeding from the lower part of the gastrointestinal tract. Abdominal pain, pseudoobstructive and malabsorption syndrome, expressive weight loss, steatorrhea and anemia are common chronic complications. In these cases a surgical treatment is necessary. Resection of the affected part of the small bowel is usually performed with end-to-end anastomosis. The authors present 4 cases with diverticulosis of the small bowel, two cases of which were manifested by diverticulitis and one of them was perforated. Pseudoobstructive syndrome, malabsorption and expressive weight loss were presented in other two cases. All four cases were dominated by severe abdominal pain. The surgical treatment was based upon radical resection of the small bowel with end-to-end anastomosis. (Fig. 4, Ref. 28.)