Results of operative management of Crohn’s disease: A series of 50 patients managed by one surgeon

Abstract

A computer analysis has been made of clinical experience of Crohn’s disease in Australian patients. Between 1950 and 1978, 50 patients were managed for Crohn’s disease by one of the authors (E.S.R.H.). This group represented 3.1. per cent of 1608 patients treated during the same period for primary inflammatory bowel disease. The mean follow-up period was 8.4 years. Thirty-nine of the 50 patients were female and 11 male. The small intestine was involved in seven patients, large intestine in 17 and both small and large intestine in 26. Symptoms were related to the anatomic localization of disease. Four patients have died (two postoperative deaths and two unrelated to Crohn’s disease). Forty-nine of the 50 patients required operative procedures and 36 underwent one or more definitive operations with curative intention. A total of 124 operations was performed, 70 of which were definitive. Twenty-nine of the 36 patients managed by a definitive operation developed recurrence, defined to include reactivation of disease in intestinal segments leftin situ. Ten patients developed two or more recurrences. Multiple recurrences were most frequent after operation for combined small- and large-intestinal Crohn’s disease. No patient with large-intestinal Crohn’s disease alone developed more than one recurrence. Each patient undergoing subtotal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis (six patients) or ileostomy (nine patients) required one or more further definitive operations. Recurrence was more frequent after the first than second definitive operation (P=0.007), the median recurrence-free intervals being 11 and 23 months, respectively.