Diverticulitis of the cecum.

Ten patients with diverticulitis of the cecum are reported upon herein. The disease is difficult to distinguish preoperatively from that of appendicitis and may be difficult to distinguish intraoperatively from carcinoma of the cecum. The diverticula are usually solitary and may be of the true or false variety. A review of the literature is presented, and the difficulties of diagnosis and treatment are discussed. We advocate local resection of the diverticulum, when possible, and a right hemicolectomy when the diagnosis is in doubt or when local resection or invagination would jeopardize the ileocecal valve or the blood supply to the intestine. With more awareness of diverticulitis of the cecum, intraoperative diagnosis may be made easier and the treatment simplified.