DIVERTICULAR-DISEASE OF THE COLON AT A REGIONAL GENERAL-HOSPITAL IN JAPAN

X-ray film registry records were reviewed to better understand the cha nging nature of diverticular disease (DD) of the colon in Japan. RESUL TS: Among 6,849 patients undergoing barium enema examination during a eight-year period from 1985 to 1992, this condition was found in 1,074 patients (15.7 percent), including 702 males (65.4 percent) and 372 f emales (34.6 percent). During this eight-year period there was an incr ease in frequency from 10.7 percent in 1985 to 17.8 percent in 1992. T he proportion of patients with right-sided, bilateral, and left-sided DD was 69.2 percent, 17.5 percent, and 13.3 percent, respectively. The right-sided DD was more common in the younger age group and was predo minant in male patients, whereas the left-sided DD increased with age, especially in female patients. Of the 1,074 patients, 11 (1.0 percent ) underwent surgery in the same period. Regarding the right-sided DD, only 2 of 743 patients received surgery (0.3 percent). On the other ha nd, of the 143 patients with left-sided DD, 9 patients (6.3 percent) r eceived some form of surgery. CONCLUSION: Right-sided diverticular dis ease of the colon is still common in Japan, It does not appear that th is tendency will change in the future. Nearly all patients diagnosed a s having diverticula had either no symptoms or only mild symptoms, and only about 1 percent required surgery. Right-sided diverticular disea se of the colon seems to have had no serious clinical problems compare d with left-sided DD.