The patient demographics are outlined in Table 1.Among the 25 patients analyzed, 15 received divertingstoma and underwent Hartmann’s procedure.Two of 15 patients in diverting stoma group received diagnostic laparoscopy first, then converted to laparotomy;while the other 13 patients in diverting stoma group and 10 patients in Hartmann’s procedure group underwent laparotomy. All 15 patients in diverting stoma group had intra-abdominal drainage. The mean age of the former group of patients was 72.7 years and of the latter group was 79.8 years. The proportion ofpatients with ASA grade III or IV was lower in patients who underwent Hartmann’s procedure. There was no significant difference in the severity of the patients between both the groups with regard to the preoperative WBCcount, CRPlevels and Hinchey grade.The short-term surgical outcomes were listed in Table 2. The duration of surgery was shorter in patients with a diverting stoma (mean 84.4 min) than in those who underwent Hartmann’s procedure (mean 150.4 min). Compared with patients who underwent Hartmann’s procedure, the postoperative ICU admission rate was lower in patients with a diverting stoma (66.7% vs. 100%). Two patients with diverting stoma expired, and all patients who underwent Hartmann’s procedure survived. Clavien-Dindo grade III or IV surgical complications were found in 2 of 13 patients with diverting stoma and 5 of 10 patients who received Hartmann’s procedure (p = 0.04). The postoperative hospital stay was 21.9 days in patients with diverting stoma and 23 days in those who underwent Hartmann’s procedure. There was no difference in stoma reversal rate between diverting stoma and Hartmann’s proce-Data are mean (standard deviation) or number (%).ASA, American Society of Anesthesiologist Classification; WBC, white blood cell count; CRP, C-reactive protein.dure groups (53.3% and 50%, respectively), and the intervals to stoma reversal was 2-6 months and 3-6 months, respectively. We followed up these patients for 6-51 months. There was no re-admission or recurrence of diverticulitis.