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In the U.S., patients with acute diverticulitis almost always receive antibiotic therapy. However, in two recent randomized controlled trials from Sweden and the Netherlands, antibiotics did not improve outcomes in patients with uncomplicated diverticulitis during 6 to 12 months of follow-up (Br J Surg 2012; 99:532; Br J Surg 2017; 104:52). Now, the researchers from the Dutch trial — which involved 528 patients with first episodes of relatively mild, uncomplicated diverticulitis — report 2-year follow-up results.
Diverticulitis recurred in 15% of patients in both the antibiotic and no-antibiotic groups. During follow-up, incidences of complicated diverticulitis were not significantly different between groups (3.3% and 4.8%, P=0.403); sigmoid…