Jejunal diverticulosis

S. B. Palder and C. B. Frey
Department of Surgery, University of California, Davis Medical Center, Sacramento 95817.

Forty-seven patients with jejunal diverticulosis were identified at the University California, Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, by a review of patient medical records from 1980 to 1986. Fourteen patients had complications that could be directly attributed to the presence of diverticula. Six patients had evidence of a malabsorption syndrome and responded to administration of broad-spectrum oral antibiotics. One patient had recurrent bouts of an asymptomatic pneumoperitoneum. A total of seven patients required operative intervention for the following conditions: massive gastrointestinal tract bleeding, two patients; mechanical small-bowel obstruction, two patients; and diverticulitis with perforation, three patients. One patient died. Nineteen patients had symptoms of epigastric pain, early satiety, and bloating for which no cause other than the presence of jejunal diverticulosis was found. Jejunal diverticulosis was an incidental finding in 14 patients treated for other gastrointestinal tract problems.