DIVERTICULA OF THE STOMACH

Abstract

The incidence of diverticula of the stomach is low. In a recent paper Moses¹said he was able to collect reports of but 150 cases. He stated that the first case was reported by Moebius in 1661. Martin²found no instance of diverticula of the stomach in the records department of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He found 5 cases reported by the pathology department. Shiflett,³during roentgenologic study of the stomachs of 786 patients, found that the disease had an incidence of 0.65 per cent. Rivers, Stevens and Kirklin,⁴reviewing 14 cases, reported that 4 gastric diverticula were found in 3,662 necropsies done routinely and that 10 gastric diverticula were removed in 11,234 exploratory operations on the stomach at the Mayo Clinic. Diverticula of the stomach have been classified as (1) true (congenital) diverticula, in which all layers of the stomach are intact and the diverticula