Clinical and Radiologic Characteristics of Intra-Abdominal Fistulizing Crohn's Disease.

BACKGROUND

Few studies describe the radiological and laboratory characteristics of patients with Crohn's disease (CD) with intra-abdominal fistulae.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to describe a cohort of CD patients with intra-abdominal fistulae and determine characteristics associated with complex fistulae.

METHODS

Data were gathered from medical records and imaging studies of patients. Evaluation included type of fistula, number of fistulae, and radiological characteristics.

RESULTS

A total of 205 fistulae in 132 patients were identified with an average patient age of 31 (±12) years. The average time from CD diagnosis to fistula development was 7 years. The most common type of fistula was entero-enteric (53%). Patients with an extra-intestinal fistula presented with an average of 1.96 fistulae, compared with an average of 1.28 fistulae for those with a fistula limited to the bowel (p =0.01). Except for the number of fistula no other significant differences were observed in radiological characteristics of patients who were diagnosed with a fistula at time of CD diagnosis compared to those diagnosed with a fistula later.

CONCLUSIONS

The most common CD-associated intra-abdominal fistulae are entero-enteric and entero-colonic fistulae. An extra-intestinal fistula and diagnosis of a fistula subsequent to diagnosis of CD were associated with an increased number of fistulae per patient.