Diverticular Disease of the Colon

DIVERTICULOSIS of the colon and its clinical consequences have become increasingly prevalent among the population of the United States and other economically developed countries with each passing decade. Truly a disease of the 20th century, it was earlier regarded as a pathological curiosity. Now, while the proportion of the aged in our population rapidly rises, their probable risk of developing diverticula is estimated at nearly 50 per cent.1 Over the past 20 years, concepts of the nature and the origins of this condition have been derived from correlations of epidemiologic, clinical, pathological, radiologic, and physiologic data. These have provided a . . .