You are in: Main Page / List of diseases / Litera D
/ Diverticulosis
 Description of disease:
 Diverticulosis is a disease in which the digestive tract gets many diverticulas. The diverticula is a small pouch or a sac in the inner wall of the digestive tract that appears when it bulges through the weak part of the wall, these small pouches are built of mucous membrane, no muscles can be found in them.
That mostly occur in the large intestine, the left part of the colon. They don't appear in the rectum.
The pouches aren't congenial, people acquire them throughout their life.
This illness affects old people the most (almost 2/3 of the elderly population suffer from this disease) and in most cases has no symptoms at all (only 10% of the sick people notice some signs of the disease). It occurs in women and men, but is uncommon for people below the age of 40. If the condition appears in the young people, it is more common in men rather than women, especially the obese ones. The symptoms may be severe then and may demand surgical operation.
The high-fiber diet reduces the risk of diverticulosis, the best example is a vegetarian diet as vegetarians never suffer from diverticulosis.
Symptoms:
bleeding
bloating and abdominal fullness
constipation
diarrhoea
fistula
intestine obstruction
Research:
Colonoscopy
Contrast X-ray fluoroscopy
Doctors :
General Surgeon
Added by:
Added on:
0000-00-00 00:00:00 ,
Updated:
2008-04-08 13:30:34
Bibliography:
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/diverticulosis/
|
2008-06-16 09:56:33
