Perforating and nonperforating Crohn's disease: An unpredictable guide to recurrence after surgery

Abstract

Four hundred eighty-six patients who have had resections for Crohn's disease at the Cleveland Clinic were reviewed. The patients were categorized by indication for surgery into three groups: perforating (P) (135 patients), nonperforating (NP) (278 patients), and miscellaneous (M) (77) patients. One hundred ninety-four patients had two or more resections and 56 underwent a third resection. Patients were no more likely to have the same indication for surgery at the time of the second resection (P=25 percent; NP=44 percent; M=57 percent) or the third resection (P=11 percent; NP=65 percent; M=55 percent). There was also no difference in the interval between resections for the P and NP groups. The lack of agreement between resections suggests that the categorization of patients into P and NP groups does not facilitate prediction of the nature of recurrent disease. The concept of aggressive perforating and indolent nonperforating Crohn's is not substantiated by this study.