Therapeutic strategies for jejunal diverticulitis: our experience and a review of the recent literature

The jejunoileal diverticulosis is an uncommon entity, which affects elderly people, and its complications can be fatal due to delayed diagnosis. The disease often presents with non-specific symptoms like intermittent abdominal pain, dyspepsia, bloating or abdominal fullness and constipation. Complications of jejunal diverticulosis include perforation, acute intestinal obstruction and diverticular bleeding. Nowadays the mortality was reduced because of the improvement of the diagnostic, pharmaceutical and surgical protocols, but preoperative diagnosis of jejunal diverticulitis is still rarely made. We report two cases of elderly patients presenting with acute abdominal pain and fever. Both underwent to an exploratory laparotomy, which revealed multiple jejunal diverticula. In both cases intestinal resections with primary anastomosis was performed. There are different therapeutic approaches depending on the severity of the disease and the general clinical condition of the patient. We also discussed about the various therapeutic strategies.