Most cases of uncomplicated acute left-sided colonic diverticulitis can be treated on an outpatient basis, and physicians should be more cautious about prescribing antibiotics, according to new guidelines from the American College of Physicians. When a clinician suspects diverticulitis, the ACP recommends using abdominal CT to confirm the diagnosis.
The ACP, which based the new guidelines on a literature review funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, noted that all its recommendations pertaining to diagnosis and management of acute diverticulitis are “conditional” and based on “low-certainty evidence” (Ann Intern Med 2022 Jan 18. doi:10.7326/M21-2710).