Surgical pathology associated with Meckel's diverticulum in a tertiary hospital: 12 year review

Objective: we want to present our experience about surgical pathology of Meckel’s diverticulum by means of a retrospective study. Material and methods: we report a group of patients of our Department of General and Abdominal Surgery and Paediatric Surgery of our Hospital with Meckel’s diverticulum since January 1997 to January 2010. We report the clinical presentation, complementary test, interventions, and the postoperative follow up. Results: 45 patients were operated in total, 33 of them in emergency surgery under the clinical form of acute abdominal pain; and the others 12 in programmed surgery, these cases came up more frequently like a clinical manifestations of latent abdominal pain, rectal bleeding and anaemia. The complementary tests were so varied; abdominal ultrasounds were used in 63% of emergency cases and the 40% of programmed cases, in these patients, gammagraphy with Tc 99 was the second test in frequency. Laparoscopy was used in 10 cases (22%). The main surgery technique used was diverticulectomy (82%). Conclusions: the presence of Meckel’s diverticulum has to be clinically suspected in all patients with abdominal pain of unknown aetiology. Access to the abdominal cavity using routine laparoscopy provides essential information on the diagnosis and for the treatment.