Background: The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the predictive value of a potential preexisting low-grade inflammation regarding the incidence of anastomotic leakage in elective laparoscopic sigmoid resection due to diverticulitis.
Methods: Patients with either chronically recurrent diverticulitis or sigmoid stenosis caused by chronic diverticulitis were included in this study. All patients with acute local or systemic inflammation were excluded. Detailed patient information (e.g. American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade, comorbidities, duration of hospital stay, and anastomotic leakage) was prospectively recorded. CD68(+) macrophages, neutrophils, CD3(+) T-lymphocytes, CD11c(+) dendritic cells, MHCII, TNFR1, and NF-κB were evaluated by immunohistochemistry within the acquired sample of colonic bowel wall tissue. Clinical and immunohistochemical data was compared between groups (leakage vs. no leakage). Additionally, a matched-pair analysis was performed due to the widely heterogeneous groups concerning the number of patients and to minimize the effect of extraneous variables.
Results: A total of 83 patients were included in the study, of which 7 patients suffered an anastomotic leakage. Neither the clinical nor the immunohistochemical parameters were significantly different between the groups. The matched-pair analysis revealed a nonsignificant increase in mean duration of hospital stay for the group with anastomotic leakage and a significantly higher percentage of CD68(+) macrophages and neutrophils in the colonic wall obtained at the index operation in both the mucosal and submucosal layers for the leakage group.
Conclusions: A preexisting low-grade inflammation represented by infiltrates of macrophages and neutrophils is a predictor for increased risk of developing colon anastomotic leakage.