Christin Yeoman’s mind was tormenting her with conflicting emotions as she faced emergency surgery to remove 11 inches of her colon. She was frustrated that antibiotic treatment hadn’t worked on her diverticulitis, a disease that causes inflammation or infection in diverticula or pouches that can form in the colon. A mom with two young children, she was scared about a long, painful recovery.

Despite her fears, she was hopeful that surgery would be a cure for the disease that kept interrupting her life. Yeoman had no choice, however. Her large intestine had torn.

She was hospitalized for nine days during the ordeal. Understanding the Challenges That is, doctors should help patients decide whether their flare-ups are frequent and severe enough to justify surgical intervention. Typically, surgeries are minimally invasive and may even be robot-assisted.

“There used to be real more regimented guidelines,” Dr. Adam S. Harris, a general surgeon, told The Epoch Times.

“But now it’s really just patient-doctor discussion.” A poor quality of life and severe symptoms Multiple hospitalizations or interventions Frequent attacks Concern about future attacks Insights From Recent Research Within two years, 18 percent of patients in the conservative treatment group underwent a sigmoid resection. In that same group and timeframe, 61 percent of patients had disease flare-ups, compared to 11 percent in the surgery group.

Approximately 25 percent of those assigned to the surgical gro.