The operation is performed under a general anaesthetic and usually takes 2 to 3 hours. Your surgeon will remove part of your colon. Your surgeon will usually join the ends of your bowel back together inside your abdomen. For safety reasons, they may make a stoma (your bowel opening onto your skin).
It's normal to experience some pain, nausea, and drowsiness as the anesthesia wears off. Your nurse can give you medication to help control your symptoms. Once you are fully awake and your pain is under control, usually within a few hours, you will be wheeled on your bed to a hospital room.
The right surgical technique depends on the location of the diverticulitis in the colon, the individual's overall health, and a surgeon's comfort and experience. This is minimally invasive, and typically requires 3 to 5 small cuts in the abdomen, while traditional surgery involves one large incision.
The surgery involves removing the sigmoid colon as well as a small area of the rectum. Because diverticula can also occur in other parts of the intestine, it's usually not possible to remove all of them. After the affected section of intestine has been removed, the ends are sewn back together again.
You should be up and walking within a day or two after surgery. This will encourage your circulation and bowel function to return to normal, and may prevent complications. Do your breathing exercises to make sure you are inflating your lungs completely.
Bowel Resection with Primary Anastomosis
After the affected areas are removed, the healthy parts of your colon are sewn together from either side of the previously infected area (anastomosis). This will allow you to retain function of your colon and will not result in an ostomy bag.
The mortality in the emergent surgery group was 9.78% (95% CI 4.13–21.43) and in the elective surgery group mortality was 1.93% (95% CI 0.53–6.70).
Bowel rest is also important for acute diverticulitis. For home treatment, that means sticking to a diet of clear liquids for a few days, then gradually adding soft solids and moving to a more normal diet over a week or two.
After you go home, you may have diarrhea on and off during the first month. It takes about three months for the bowels to learn their “new normal.” You'll need to avoid heavy lifting for six to eight weeks to prevent a hernia.
Many people know someone who had an operation for diverticulitis and ended up having a colostomy. In most cases of surgery for diverticulitis, a colostomy is not required. However, sometimes this is not the case.
Most people with diverticulitis recover completely. But, at its most severe, a pouch can burst open, spilling fecal matter directly into a person's bloodstream. This results in an immediate risk of developing a blood infection called sepsis, which can be life-threatening.
Professionals involved in your diverticulitis diagnosis and treatment team may include digestive disease specialists (gastroenterologists), diagnostic radiologists and surgeons with expertise in bowel procedures.
Severe diverticulitis generally warrants treatment in the hospital. This is especially true if you have developed any complications or have a high risk for complications. Antibiotics: These will fight a bacterial infection. A clear liquid diet: This is recommended for a short time to rest your bowels.
STAGES OF DIVERTICULITIS
This abscess may be walled off by colon, mesocolon, omentum, small bowel, uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries, and/or pelvic peritoneum. Stage III: General peritonitis resulting from the rupture of either a pericolic or pelvic abscess into the free peritoneal cavity.
Drink extra fluids, 6 to 8 cups of fluid per day is recommended. Foods low in fibre are usually digested better at first. It is normal to lose some weight after this surgery.
In about 95 out of 100 people, uncomplicated diverticulitis goes away on its own within a week. In about 5 out of 100 people, the symptoms stay and treatment is needed. Surgery is only rarely necessary.
Can diverticulitis go away on its own? If it's mild and uncomplicated, it can go away on its own. But you should still go to a healthcare provider to have it evaluated. They might need to give you antibiotics for an infection, and some people might need prescription pain medications.
Your NYU Langone gastroenterologist may recommend surgery if symptoms of diverticulitis haven't improved after nonsurgical treatment; if a perforation or fistula, a connection that forms between the intestines and another organ, develops in the colon wall; or if a diverticular pouch ruptures.
In most cases, diverticulitis is not considered to be a life-threatening or life-limiting condition. However, symptoms of diverticulitis, such as abdominal pain, constipation and/or diarrhea, and lower-digestive-tract bleeding, can cause complications that can raise the risk of mortality.
Most of the time, diverticulitis does not require surgery. If mild, the condition can sometimes be treated with medication and dietary changes.
Diverticulitis is an intestinal disease that can cause fatigue in some people. The fatigue may be caused by infection, inflammation, or sleep disruption due to pain. It could also be related to nutritional deficiencies such as anemia, dehydration, medication side effects, or surgery.
Bowel Resection with Colostomy – In more severe cases of diverticulitis, so much inflammation may be present that reconnection is not possible. In these instances, the surgeon will connect the colon to an opening in the abdomen (stoma), where waste can pass into a colostomy bag.
After surgery, new diverticula develop in the remaining colon in around 15% and roughly 2–11% will require repeat surgery [3, 10]. Historically, recurrence of diverticulitis after surgery has been in the range of 7–11% with an estimated risk of recurrence over a 15-year period of 16% [3].