CLINICAL-FEATURES OF PARADIVERTICULITIS

Colonic diverticula have been generally accepted as a source of massiv e hemorrhaging. Little is known, however, about fecal occult blood los s from colonic diverticula and diverticulosis. We retrospectively inve stigated the possibility of minor bleeding in 737 diverticula cases di agnosed from April 1989 to May 1994. Thirty-seven cases (5%) of divert icula are explained as the sources of positive occult blood testing as certained clearly by colonoscopy. These divide into three types: (1) f rom intradiverticular bleeding (intradiverticulitis), (2) from peridiv erticular bleeding (peridiverticulitis), and (3) from interdiverticula r colonic mucosal erosion (interdiverticulitis). These findings accoun t for the occult blood loss that we call paradiverticulitis. The two-y ear prospective study found 67 cases (11.3%) of paradiverticulitis in 595 diverticula cases. We concluded that paradiverticulitis is one of the causes of positive occult blood tests.