Diverticulitis - Exams and Tests

Exams and Tests

Your health professional will take a history and give you a physical examination if diverticulitis is suspected. Depending on your symptoms, you may have one or more tests to rule out other medical problems that could be causing your symptoms. The extent of testing will depend on the severity of your symptoms and how long they have lasted.

Routine tests

These tests may be done any time you see your health professional about abdominal pain or other symptoms.

• Complete blood count (CBC) may show if you have an infection or if you have too few red blood cells in your blood, possibly because of bleeding in the colon.
• Urinalysis may indicate you have a urinary tract infection.
• Abdominal X-ray may provide clues about the cause of abdominal pain and other symptoms.
• The digital rectal exam looks for tenderness or a mass in the lower pelvic area.
• The fecal occult blood test looks for blood in your stool.

Tests done as needed

Depending on your symptoms, your health professional may want to do one or more of these tests.

• A computed tomography (CT) scan may be done if symptoms suggest you have a pocket of infection (abscess) in your abdomen or that a pouch (diverticulum) has burst. The scan also can reveal other possible causes of your symptoms.
• A barium enema X-ray may be used to show diverticula or other possible causes of your symptoms. However, a barium enema X-ray usually is not done while you are having an attack of diverticulitis because of the risk that the barium might spill into the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity) if you have a perforation. A material that performs a function similar to barium but that can dissolve in water (water-soluble contrast) may be used instead. See barium enema images of a normal colon and diverticulosis.
• Flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy may be used if your main symptom is bleeding from the intestine. These tests also may be done to look for narrow spots or growths in the intestine and to rule out ulcerative colitis or cancer.
• An upper gastrointestinal (UGI) series may be done to find out whether your symptoms may be caused by a problem in your stomach or small intestine.
• An upper gastrointestinal endoscopy may be done to find out whether your symptoms are caused by a problem in your stomach or the upper part of your small intestine.

If you are having serious bleeding from the intestine, a condition called diverticular bleeding, your health professional may want to do:

• A technetium-labeled red blood cell bleeding scan, to find the source of bleeding.
• Angiogram (also called arteriogram), to locate the source of bleeding if you are having a large amount of bleeding in your intestine.

See the topic Diverticular Bleeding for more information.

Early Detection

No screening is available for diverticulitis at this time. Starting at age 50, a flexible sigmoidoscopy may be recommended every 3 to 5 years or a colonoscopy every 10 years as a screening exam for cancers of the colon and rectum. Both flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy involve using a flexible tube with a lighted viewing instrument to see inside the large intestine. These exams often reveal diverticula if they are present.