| Theme | Treatment of Crohn's Disease | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Surgical Treatment of Crohn's Disease | |
| Publish Date | 1998/01 | |
| Author | Shozo Baba | Dept.of Surgery, Hamamatsu University, School of Medicine |
| [ Summary ] | Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of unknown etiology affecting the entire gastrointestinal tract. Abdominal pain, diarrhea and weight loss are the typical presenting symptoms. No medical or surgical therapy has yet been developed that will uniformly and reliably achieve a curative effect. In general, surgery is reserved either for patients whose quality of life is severely impaired in spite of appropriate medical treatment or those who have developed uncontrollable complications. Most patients with Crohn's disease ultimately require one or more operations in their life-time. At most, care should be taken not to resect too much of the intestine. Major surgical indications include intestinal obstruction, abscesses, internal and external fistulas, severe perianal lesions and toxic megacolon. Recent studies have shown excellent results of strictureplasties for skip lesions. However, timely surgical intervention may restore an excellent quality of life by relieving obstructive symptoms, cure of sepsis and fistulas, and weight gain. Patients should be carefully followed up for recurrence. |
|