Pressure changes after balloon distension of the colon wall in diverticular disease.

Balloon distension of the distal colon in diverticular disease does not produce the pressure change in response to increasing volumes that occurs in normal subjects. This phenomenon, though modified at first by resection, is not abolished by resection nor by myotomy or bran. This adaptive quality of the wall of the colon to balloon distension possibly reflects a structural change in its wall, as the phenomenon was present in the colon in diverticular disease in vitro as well as in vivo.