Colorectal Surgeon Consensus with Diverticulitis Clinical Practice Guidelines

Aim: To determine the application of clinical practice guidelines for the current management of diverticulitis and colorectal surgeon specialist consensus in Australia and New Zealand.

Methods: A survey was distributed to 205 colorectal surgeons in Australia and New Zealand, using 22 hypothetical clinical scenarios.

Results: The response rate was 102 (50%). For 19 guideline-based scenarios, only 11 (58%) reached consensus (defined as > 70% majority opinion) and agreed with guidelines; while 3 (16%) reached consensus and did not agree with guidelines. The remaining 5 (26%) scenarios showed community equipoise (defined as less than/equal to 70% majority opinion). These included diagnostic imaging where CT scan was contraindicated, management options in the failure of conservative therapy for complicated diverticulitis, surgical management of Hinchey grade 3, proximal extent of resection in sigmoid diverticulitis and use of oral mechanical bowel preparation and antibiotics for an elective colectomy. The consensus areas not agreeing with guidelines were management of simple diverticulitis, management following the failure of conservative therapy in uncomplicated diverticulitis and follow-up after an episode of complicated diverticulitis. Fifty-percent of rural/regional based surgeons would perform an urgent sigmoid colectomy in failed conservative therapy of diverticulitis compared to only 8% of surgeons city-based (Fisher's exact test = 0.016). In right-sided complicated diverticulitis, a greater number of those in practice for more than ten years would perform an ileocecal resection and ileocolic anastomosis (79% 41%, < 0.0001).

Conclusion: While there are areas of consensus in diverticulitis management, there are areas of community equipoise for future research, potentially in the form of RCTs.