Pre- and post-operative complications in Crohn's disease with special reference to duration of preoperative disease history.

In an analysis of a consecutive series of 133 patients with a diagnosis of Crohn's disease established preoperatively and in which early surgical intervention was the prevailing policy, the median time between diagnosis and operation was short. For patients with predominantly small-bowel disease it was 4 months and for patients with predominantly colonic involvement 8 months. The frequencies of preoperative and early postoperative complications were low compared with those in other reports. Local complications, such as intra-abdominal fistulae and abscesses, were preoperatively seen in only 4% of the patients. Arthritis, iritis, or erythema nodosum was not seen in patients with predominantly small-bowel disease. The early postoperative death rate was 1.5%, the late mortality rate related to Crohn's disease 2.3%. In conclusion, early resectional surgery seems to be justified as one form of treatment for Crohn's disease in that it diminishes the rate of serious complications. The risk of recurrence is, however, not influenced by early surgical intervention.