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Care of the Elderly Patient with Acute Diverticulitis

  • Emergency Medicine (FA Luchette and RP Gonzalez, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Diverticulitis is frequently encountered in the elderly population. Because elderly patients typically have decreased physiologic reserve and other complicating comorbid conditions, treatment decisions must be carefully made. Like with younger patients, uncomplicated diverticulitis is usually treated successfully with antibiotics alone. Frequent contact with the patient is required so that worsening is promptly detected, and a treatment escalation, if needed, is not missed. Treatment of complicated diverticulitis depends on the specific complication. For perforated diverticulitis, resection with end colostomy has been the traditional operation, but in recent years, its use has been challenged by other options including resection with anastomosis and proximal diversion and laparoscopic lavage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Division of Colorectal Surgery, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, USA

    Elizabeth C. He & Joshua M. Eberhardt

  2. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Genevieve B. Melton

  3. Fairview Health Services and University of Minnesota Physicians, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Genevieve B. Melton

Authors
  1. Elizabeth C. He
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  2. Genevieve B. Melton
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  3. Joshua M. Eberhardt
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Correspondence to Joshua M. Eberhardt.

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Conflict of Interest

Elizabeth C. He declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Genevieve B. Melton declares that her spouse is an employee of St. Jude Medical and has received financial support through grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Agency for Healthcare Research Quality (AHRQ).

Joshua M. Eberhardt declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Emergency Medicine

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He, E.C., Melton, G.B. & Eberhardt, J.M. Care of the Elderly Patient with Acute Diverticulitis. Curr Geri Rep 5, 49–54 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13670-016-0160-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13670-016-0160-2

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