Colonic diverticulitis associated with carcinoma; review of fifty cases.

The differentiation of diverticulitis and carcinoma of the colon has been long recognized as a difficult problem. The present study does not attempt to give the differential diagnosis of these conditions by analysis of the signs and symptoms in separate series of patients with diverticulitis or carcinoma, for this has been done on numerous occasions. It does deal with cases in which carcinoma and diverticulitis of the colon occurred together, including a comparison with some of the findings in two separate studies made by one of us (Mayo) and associates * on diverticulitis and on carcinoma. The cases in these various studies have been observed during overlapping periods of time at the same institution under similar circumstances of medical diagnostic work-up and with the same group of surgeons. MATERIAL Records of 85 cases in which diverticulitis and carcinoma supposedly occurred together were found in the files of the Mayo Clinic during