COLON DISEASE, ILLUSTRATION. Illustration of the main pathologies of the colon : colorectal cancer on the left, diverticula in the middle and polypes on the right. The diverticula are small hernias present on the colon mucosa mainly at the level of the sigmoid colon. The presence of diverticula is named diverticulosis. When these diverticula get infected and suppurate, as shown here, it is a diverticulitis. The polypes are benign tumors of the mucosa. We talk of polyposis when there are various.