British Journal of Surgery (BJS) Podcast #6

Generalized peritonitis due to perforated diverticulitis is usually treated by Hartmann's procedure, an operation that was originally described in 1921. The procedure results in significant morbidity, mainly due to the creation of a temporary stoma that becomes permanent for a significant proportion of patients. A study published in BJS describes an alternative treatment for peritonitis caused by perforated diverticulitis - washing the abdominal cavity with a warm saline solution. This is a laparoscopic rather than an open procedure, with no resulting stoma. The study observed the outcomes of the technique in 100 patients, the largest number studied to date, with surprising results. Will the treatment of perforated diverticulitis change on the basis of this research? Journalist Wendy Barnaby interviews Des Winter, one of the authors of the study, and John Beynon, Editor of BJS, to find out. The original article by Myers et al. is available free to download : Myers E, Hurley M, O'Sullivan,
Kavanagh D, Wilson I, Winter DC: at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bjs.6024/abstract Laparoscopic peritoneal lavage for generalized peritonitis due to perforated diverticulitis. Br J Surg 2008, 95(1): 97-101.