What’s a diverticulum?

A diverticulum is an image of a pouch that forms due to tissue lesions near the walls of the tubes of various organs in the body, thus causing the weak areas of the tubes to bulge outward. Diverticula may occur in any of the body’s cavernous organs, such as the intestines, stomach, and blood vessels of the respiratory system. It most commonly occurs in the gastrointestinal tract of the digestive system. During a gastroenteroscopic imaging test, a weak area of the wall of the gastrointestinal tract is found to project outward to form a sac or pouch, and this abnormal pattern is known as a diverticulum. For gastrointestinal diverticula, stool or food can easily remain inside, which may also cause inflammation of the diverticulum over time, and even result in diverticular bleeding and diverticular infection. Most of the patients with diverticulum do not have any obvious symptoms, but a few of them may have abdominal pain, bleeding and other symptoms. Patients need to go to the hospital for CT imaging examination in time and cooperate with the doctor to carry out standardized treatment, so as to avoid delaying the condition.