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Diverticulum
 
 
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A diverticulum (plural: diverticula) is medical
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
 or biological
Biology

Biology is a branch of the natural sciences concerned with the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment ....
 term for an outpouching of a hollow (or a fluid filled) structure in the body.

In medicine the term usually implies that the structure is not normally present, i.e. pathological. However, embryologically
Embryology

Embryology is the study of the development of an embryo. An embryo is defined as any organism in a stage before birth or hatching, or in plants, before germination occurs....
, some normal structures begin development as a diverticulum arising from another structure.

An alphabetical listing of some frequently encountered diverticula follows:


Most of these pathological types of diverticulum are capable of harboring an enterolith
Enterolith

An enterolith is a mineral concretion or Calculus formed anywhere in the gastrointestinal system. Enteroliths are uncommon and usually incidental findings but, once found, they require at a minimum watchful waiting....
.






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Encyclopedia


A diverticulum (plural: diverticula) is medical
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
 or biological
Biology

Biology is a branch of the natural sciences concerned with the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment ....
 term for an outpouching of a hollow (or a fluid filled) structure in the body.

In medicine the term usually implies that the structure is not normally present, i.e. pathological. However, embryologically
Embryology

Embryology is the study of the development of an embryo. An embryo is defined as any organism in a stage before birth or hatching, or in plants, before germination occurs....
, some normal structures begin development as a diverticulum arising from another structure.

An alphabetical listing of some frequently encountered diverticula follows:

Pathological

  • Bladder diverticulum: Balloon-like growths on the bladder commonly associated with a chronic outflow obstruction, such as benign prostatic hypertrophy in older males. Usually found in pairs on opposite sides of the bladder, bladder diverticula are often surgically removed to prevent infection, rupture, or even cancer.
  • Cardiac diverticulum: A very rare congenital malformation of the heart that is usually benign
  • Colonic diverticula: These can become infected (see diverticulitis
    Diverticulitis

    Diverticulitis is a common digestive disease particularly found in the colon . Diverticulitis develops from diverticulosis, which involves the formation of pouches on the outside of the colon ....
    ) and can perforate, requiring surgery*Diverticulum of Kummerall: unusual nomenclature, in that focal dilatations of a blood vessel are properly referred to as aneurysms
  • Duodenal & Jejunal diverticul(um|a): congenital lesions, may be a source of bacterial overgrowth, may perforate and may result in abscesses
  • Epiphrenic diverticulum: due to dysfunction of the lower esophageal sphincter, as in achalasia
    Achalasia

    Achalasia, also known as esophageal achalasia, achalasia cardiae, cardiospasm, and esophageal aperistalsis, is an esophageal motility disorder: The smooth muscle cell layer of the esophagus loses normal peristalsis , and the lower esophageal sphincter fails to relax properly in response to swallowing....
  • Killian-Jamieson diverticulum
  • Meckel's diverticulum
    Meckel's diverticulum

    A Meckel's diverticulum, a true congenital diverticulum, is a small bulge in the small intestine present at birth. It is a vestigial remnant of the omphalomesenteric duct , and is the most frequent malformation of the gastrointestinal tract....
    : a persistent portion of the omphalomesenteric duct
    Vitelline duct

    At the end of the fourth week the yolk-sac presents the appearance of a small pear-shaped vesicle opening into the digestive tube by a long narrow tube, the vitelline duct, also known as the omphalomesenteric duct....
     present in 2% of the population
  • Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses
    Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses

    Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses, also entrapped epithelial crypts, are diverticula or pockets in the wall of the gallbladder. They may be microscopic or macroscopic....
    : in the gallbladder
    Gallbladder

    The gallbladder is a small non-vital Organ which aids in the digestive process and concentrates bile produced in the liver....
     due to chronic cholecystitis
    Cholecystitis

    Cholecystitis is inflammation of the gall bladder....
  • Traction esophageal diverticulum: due to scarring from mediastinal or pulmonary tuberculosis
  • Urethral diverticulum: congenital in males, post-infectious in females
  • Zenker's diverticulum
    Zenker's diverticulum

    In anatomy, Zenker's diverticulum, also pharyngoesophageal diverticulum, is a diverticulum of the mucosa of the pharynx, just above the cricopharyngeal muscle ....
    : a diverticulum of the mucosa of the pharynx affecting adults


Most of these pathological types of diverticulum are capable of harboring an enterolith
Enterolith

An enterolith is a mineral concretion or Calculus formed anywhere in the gastrointestinal system. Enteroliths are uncommon and usually incidental findings but, once found, they require at a minimum watchful waiting....
. If the enterolith stays in place, it may cause no problems, but a large enterlith expelled from a diverticulum into the lumen
Lumen

Lumen can mean:* Lumen , the SI unit of luminous flux* Lumen , the cavity or channel within a tubular structure* Thylakoid lumen, the inner membrane space of the chloroplast...
 can cause obstruction (see Enterolith
Enterolith

An enterolith is a mineral concretion or Calculus formed anywhere in the gastrointestinal system. Enteroliths are uncommon and usually incidental findings but, once found, they require at a minimum watchful waiting....
).

Embryological

  • The Kidneys, originally diverticula in the development of the urinary and reproductive organs
    Development of the urinary and reproductive organs

    The development of the urinary and reproductive organs as a part of the prenatal development, concerns the urinary system and sex organs. The latter is a part of the stages of sexual differentiation....
  • The lungs, originally diverticula forming off of the ventral foregut.
  • The thymus appears in the form of two flask-shape diverticula, which arise from the third branchial pouch (pharyngeal pouch)of the endoderm.


Footnotes