Diverticular disease and minor rectal bleeding.

The purpose of the study was to compare the history of rectal bleeding during the year before the study and the presence of faecal occult bleeding in patients with advanced diverticular disease of the large bowel and two sex- and age-matched reference groups, one consisting of patients with normal large-bowel barium enemas and the other of persons without any history of gastrointestinal disease. The number of persons with faecal occult bleeding or macroscopic anal bleeding during the year before the study was not increased in the group with diverticular disease as compared with the other two groups. The bleeding frequency and characteristics of the bleeding did not differ among the three groups. It is concluded that minor rectal bleeding is rather uncommon in persons with uncomplicated diverticular disease. Patients with a history of rectal bleeding in whom a barium study has only shown diverticular disease should be further investigated as though the diverticula were not present.