A 28-year-old previously healthy woman arrives in the emergency room complaining of 24 h of anorexia and nausea and lower abdominal pain that is more intense in the right lower quadrant than elsewhere. On examination she has peritoneal signs of the right lower quadrant and a rectal temperature of 38.38degC (101.8degF). At exploration through incision of the right lower quadrant, she is found to have a small, contained perforation of a cecal diverticulum. Which of the following statements regarding this situation is true?