Importance: Both elective sigmoid resection and conservative treatment are options for patients with recurrent, complicated, or persistent painful diverticulitis; understanding outcomes following each can help inform decision-making.
Objective: To compare outcomes of elective sigmoid resection and conservative treatment for patients with recurrent, complicated, or persistent painful diverticulitis at 2-year follow-up.
Design, setting, and participants: This multicenter parallel open-label individually randomized clinical trial comparing elective sigmoid resection to conservative treatment in patients with recurrent, complicated, or persistent painful diverticulitis was carried out in 5 Finnish hospitals between September 2014 and October 2018. Follow-up up to 2 years is reported. Of 85 patients randomized and included, 75 and 70 were available for QOL outcomes at 1 year and 2 years, respectively, and 79 and 78 were available for the recurrence outcome at 1 year and 2 years, respectively. The present analysis was conducted from September 2015 to June 2022.
Interventions: Laparoscopic elective sigmoid resection vs conservative treatment (patient education and fiber supplementation).
Main outcomes and measures: Prespecified secondary outcomes included Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI) score, complications, and recurrences within 2 years.
Results: Ninety patients (28 male [31%]; mean [SD] age, 54.11 [11.9] years and 62 female [69%]; mean [SD] age, 57.13 [7.6] years) were randomized either to elective sigmoid resection or conservative treatment. After exclusions, 41 patients in the surgery group and 44 in the conservative group were included in the intention-to-treat analyses. Eight patients (18%) in the conservative treatment group underwent sigmoid resection within 2 years. The mean GIQLI score at 1 year was 9.51 points higher in the surgery group compared to the conservative group (mean [SD], 118.54 [17.95] vs 109.03 [19.32]; 95% CI, 0.83-18.18; P = .03), while the mean GIQLI score at 2 years was similar between the groups. Within 2 years, 25 of 41 patients in the conservative group (61%) had recurrent diverticulitis compared to 4 of 37 patients in the surgery group (11%). Four of 41 patients in the surgery group (10%) and 2 of 44 in the conservative group (5%) had major postoperative complications within 2 years. In per-protocol analyses, the mean (SD) GIQLI score was higher in the surgery group compared to the conservative treatment group by 11.27 points at 12 months (119.42 [17.98] vs 108.15 [19.28]; 95% CI, 2.24-20.29; P = .02) and 10.43 points at 24 months (117.24 [15.51] vs 106.82 [18.94]; 95% CI, 1.52-19.33; P = .02).
Conclusions and relevance: In this randomized clinical trial, elective sigmoid resection was effective in preventing recurrent diverticulitis and improved quality of life over conservative treatment within 2 years.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02174926.