Diverticulitis

The Blocked Drain Pipe

Imagine a plastic pipe (the colon) with tiny holes poked in its wall where small sprinkler nozzles (blood vessels) attach. Over time, high water pressure inside pushes the plastic bulges outward through those holes, forming little balloons (diverticula) stuck to the outside. One balloon's opening gets clogged with mineral deposits and sludge (a fecalith), trapping water and bacteria inside. The trapped pressure squeezes the balloon's thin walls and cuts off blood flow to the plastic—like strangling a balloon's neck. Bacteria multiply in the stagnant, oxygen-poor water, eating through the plastic wall until it tears. Contaminated water leaks into the soil around the pipe (the pericolonic fat), and the body rushes repair crews (white blood cells) to build a sandbag wall (phlegmon) around the leak. If the leak is too big or the sandbag wall fails, the contamination floods the entire yard (peritonitis), and the whole system shuts down (septic shock).