Page 145 - Postoperative Intra-Abdominal Adhesions- New insights in prevention and consequences

Long-term follow-up after diverticulitis
between the responders/non-responders and total study population, but it is well known that age and general condition are important factors determining a successful outcome of surgery. The mean age of the deceased patients operated in the acute setting was 72.6 years. This is significantly older than the responder/non-responder group (Table 2) and therefore a reasonable explanation for the larger amount of deceased.
The treatment of diverticulitis continues to evolve towards an approach that is more conservative and minimally invasive [45]. However, when acute surgery is inevitable, this data enables surgeons to inform patients that in the long run the amount of chronic abdominal complaints after acute operation will be comparable to patients who were electively operated on. Finally as the presence of peritonitis in this study did not significantly relate to the occurrence of chronic abdominal complaints, it is concluded that adhesions play a minor role with regard to abdominal symptoms in the longterm.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank L. Leijsen, MD and D.P.V. Lambrichts, MD for their significant contribution in collection of data.
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