Surgical Treatment of Crohn’s Disease

Abstract

Crohn’s disease is an idiopathic, incurable, chronic, inflammatory disease of the gastro-intestinal tract, whose incidence is rising around the world for unknown reasons. The characteristic transmural inflammation of Crohn’s disease may occur anywhere along the digestive tract, which results in an inflammatory, fibrostenotic or penetrating phenotype. Although the degree of symptomatology varies, and may increase or disappear during the course of the disease, patients may require chronic immuno-suppressive and surgical treatment, but neither of these can cure the disease. Although the rate of surgical interventions for drug-refractory diseases has decreased over the past six decades, as well as the need for urgent surgical procedures, surgery still has an important place in the treatment of the complications of this serious ailment. After resection, which is not curative, 70 to 90% of patients will suffer endoscopic recurrence within one year, and 35% patients will have repeated intestinal resection within ten years.