Adequate Resection for Diverticulitis of the Colon

WEHAVE assigned ourselves the title "Adequate resection for diverticulitis of the colon," but as we reflect it becomes apparent that the answer cannot be a dogmatic one. When dealing with cancer of the bowel, our answer for curative resection would be to remove an extended cancer-bearing segment of bowel together with involved and suspiciously involved organs and tissues and to perform concomitant lymphadenectomy. Were the surgical procedure to be undertaken for nonspecific ulcerative colitis, removal of all the diseased bowel would be instituted. With peridiverticulitis, however, the confronting problem often prevails as to whether an occasional diverticulum closely adjacent to or scattered farther away from the primarily involved site should be included in the surgical extirpation. It is recognized that the sigmoid portion of the colon is the location for diverticulitis in between 85% and 95% of patients coming to surgery, with concomitant involvement of the descending colon in approximately