Purpose: To describe the ultrasound findings of acute colonic uncomplicated diverticulitis (ACUD) and how to improve the accuracy of diagnosis.
Materials and Methods: From December 2005 to January 2008, twenty-two cases were collected, 17 male and 5 female, aged from 22 to 70 years (mean, 44), in which 19 cases with right abdominal pain, 3 cases with left abdominal pain, all of them with tenderness. All cases were performed with US, 12 cases were combined with CT. Ultrasound scanning from cecum to sigmoid colon and determining their positions thanks to the characteristic US findings of colon (haustral patterns).
Results: Among twenty-two cases suspected of ACUD, 21 cases were true (95%), in which 10 cases of cecum, 7 cases of ascending colon, 1 case of transversal colon, 2 cases of descending colon, 1 case of sigmoid colon. Eighteen cases were conservatively treated with antibiotic. Four cases underwent operation because surgeons suspected acute appendicitis, with post-operative diagnoses 3 cases of diverticulitis of cecum and 1 case of acute appendicitis. US revealed thickness of part of the colonic wall, and inflammatory paracolonic fatty thickness with small echogenic structure inside with or without shadowing, which had findings similar to “thyroid in abdomen”, non-compressible and tender. Doppler may be hyperemia intra-colonic and diverticular wall. CT confirmed inflammatory fatty lesion with or without air inside along colonic wall.
Conclusions: Acute colonic uncomplicated diverticulitis has fairly characteristic features, therefore US enable diagnosis. Exact determination of colon and cecum can improve accurate diagnosis of colonic diverticulitis.