Clinical significance of the modified Hinchey classification of acute diverticulitis

BACKGROUND: In recent decades, there has been a widespread increase in the incidence of diverticular disease by more than 10 times and an increase in the frequency of its complications in the range from 5 to 25%.

AIM: To present the clinical experience of implementing the classification of acute diverticulitis according to E.J. Hinchey (1978) modified by A.M. Kaiser (2005).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The srudy considered the hospitalizations of 314 patients with complicated diverticulitis; the patients were divided according to the Hinchey’s classification into 6 groups depending on the complications.

RESULTS: This classification allows not only to stage the disease depending on the severity of the complications, but also to verify these complications with the results of X-ray computed tomography. The modern methods of their correction, which were applied in the Republican Clinical Hospital (Kazan), are given.

CONCLUSIONS: The widespread use of the classification by therapists, surgeons, coloproctologists, and emergency doctors will ensure timely and effective treatment tactics, predict the dynamics of the inflammatory process, and manage the flow of patients with this pathology.