Recurrent rectal diverticulitis

Diverticular involvement of the colon is very common in the United States. Patients present with asymptomatic diverticuli and may have complications of these, spanning the spectrum of uncomplicated diverticulitis to an acute surgical abdominal as a result of feculent peritonitis. We discuss a patient requiring low anterior resection for intractable symptoms resulting from recurrent rectal diverticulitis as well as a review of the limited literature on the subject of diverticular disease of the rectum.