Mortality and complications following surgery for diverticulitis: Systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Background: The surgical treatment of diverticulitis is in a state of evolution. Clinicians across many disciplines need to counsel patients regarding surgical choices. Objectives: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to determine the mortality and complication rates following surgery for diverticulitis in both the emergent and elective setting. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) for relevant articles published from 1980 to 2012. The primary outcome of interest was the point estimate of mortality, following surgery for diverticulitis. Results: Of the 289 citations reviewed, we included 59 studies. Overall, the point estimate for mortality was 3.05%, with a 95% confidence intereval (CI) of 1.73-5.32 and p < 0.001. Mortality following emergent surgery was 10.64% (95% CI 7.95-14.11; p < 0.001), versus 0.50% (95% CI 0.46-0.54; p < 0.001) following elective operations. A laparoscopic approach had an estimated mortality of 0.75% (95% CI 0.35-1.58; p < 0.001), compared to an open surgical approach, which had a mortality of 4.69% (95% CI 2.29-9.36, p < 0.001). The mortality following a resection with primary anastomosis was 1.96% (95% CI 1.22-3.13; p < 0.001) and for the Hartmann's procedure was 14.18% (95% CI 9.83-20.03; p < 0.001). A comparative analysis found that the risk of post-operative mortality was significantly higher following emergent surgery, compared to elective surgery (odds ratio (OR): 6.12 with 95% CI 1.62-23.10; p ¼ 0.008; Q ¼ 2.56, p ¼ 0.46 and I 2 ¼ 0); the open approach, compared to a laparoscopic approach (OR: 36.43 with 95% CI 9.94-133.6; p ¼ 0.13; and Q ¼ 2.79, p ¼ 0.25 and I 2 ¼ 28.26); and for Hartmann's procedure, compared to primary anastomosis without diversion (OR: 25.45 with 95% CI 15.13-42.81, p < 0.001; and Q ¼ 23.34, p ¼ 0.14 and I 2 ¼ 27.16). The overall reported post-operative complication rate was 32.64% (95% CI 27.43-38.32; p < 0.00). The overall surgical and medical complication rates were 18.96% and 13.93%, respectively. Conclusions: Urgent surgical treatment of diverticulitis has a significant complication rate. Even elective surgery has a significant complication rate that needs to be considered when doing the clinical decision-making for recurrent diverticulitis.

European Society of Coloproctology: guidelines for the management of diverticular disease of the colon

“…Only two of these conclude with better short-term outcomes with laparoscopic resection [187,188] and none of the three demonstrated convincing superiority of the laparoscopic over an open approach in long-term results. Three meta-analyses about the role of mini-invasive surgery for elective surgery for diverticulitis have been published [189][190][191], two of which included nonrandomized studies [189,190]. The Cochrane review by Abraha et al [191] analysed only the three existing randomized clinical trials.…”

Totally laparoscopic and totally robotic surgery in patients with left‐sided colonic diverticulitis

“…LCD can be associated with major intraoperative challenges resulting in postoperative morbidity. Intraoperative management and dissection of vessels and ureters and creating bowel anastomosis in a septic environment can be difficult and may result in surgical site infections and intractable bleeding . Robotic technique may potentially lower the risk of operative morbidity by reducing the need of conversion to open surgery.…”

X-ray-surgery of diverticular disease complicated by abscess formation

“…Острый дивертикулит возникает примерно у 4% пациентов с дивертикулами толстой кишки, причем у 30-40% из них приобретает рецидивирующий характер [2,3]. Летальность при экстренном хирургическом лечении осложненного дивертикулеза достигает 9,78-10,64%, при плановом лечении она существенно ниже -0,5-1,93%, общее количество послеоперационных осложнений составляет 32,64% [4].…”