New protocols being developed for diverculitis treatment
Just wanted you all to know that I follow the medical literature on this topic, and recently there have been articles that question the wisdom of current physician advice to remove a section of the colon after just two episodes of diverticulitis I quote from one article below. Note you can read the original research at the link below, or at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bjs.7723/abstract.
"January 11, 2012 — The long-term risks for recurrent acute diverticulitis are limited after colectomy, but medically treated patients fare almost as well, researchers report in an article published online November 21, 2011, and in the February print issue of the British Journal of Surgery.
"These data do not support a general policy of prophylactic colectomy, which should be advised depending on the individual patient," write G.A. Binda, MD, from the Department of General Surgery, Galliera Hospital, Genoa, Italy, and colleagues."
For those of us dealing with this condition, it's important to know the latest thinking -- most protocols change very slowly as the evidence must be convincing. But when it is your colon on the line, you must advocate for yourself. Advice to delay surgical intervention until after 4 or more episodes is being suggested as the new guideline.
There was also a report that came out of a recent meeting in which the author was suggesting that new procedures be developed - such as diverticulectomy during colonscopy and gut-directed antibiotics -- to help reduce future episodes. I suspect only a few of these pouches that form in the colon are problematic - perhaps at sections of the colon where the anatomy turns or folds -- so it might be very doable to identify and fix enough of them to halt future recurrence.
Food for thought! Looking forward to new advances in treatment of this increasingly common problem.
"January 11, 2012 — The long-term risks for recurrent acute diverticulitis are limited after colectomy, but medically treated patients fare almost as well, researchers report in an article published online November 21, 2011, and in the February print issue of the British Journal of Surgery.
"These data do not support a general policy of prophylactic colectomy, which should be advised depending on the individual patient," write G.A. Binda, MD, from the Department of General Surgery, Galliera Hospital, Genoa, Italy, and colleagues."
For those of us dealing with this condition, it's important to know the latest thinking -- most protocols change very slowly as the evidence must be convincing. But when it is your colon on the line, you must advocate for yourself. Advice to delay surgical intervention until after 4 or more episodes is being suggested as the new guideline.
There was also a report that came out of a recent meeting in which the author was suggesting that new procedures be developed - such as diverticulectomy during colonscopy and gut-directed antibiotics -- to help reduce future episodes. I suspect only a few of these pouches that form in the colon are problematic - perhaps at sections of the colon where the anatomy turns or folds -- so it might be very doable to identify and fix enough of them to halt future recurrence.
Food for thought! Looking forward to new advances in treatment of this increasingly common problem.
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