[Crohn's disease: disease activity and recurrence following surgery]

The data from 238 patients (108 men, 130 women, mean age 29 [15-71] years), who had undergone operations for Crohn's disease between 1968 and 1988, were analysed retrospectively with the purpose of ascertaining the significance of an endoscopically demonstrated "early recurrence". In 170 patients postoperative colonoscopy had been performed at least once. In 130 patients the activity of the disease in the years before and after operation was compared in terms of such parameters as haemoglobin, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, serum albumin, body weight and the frequency of acute flare-ups of the disease and admissions to hospital. The probability of an endoscopically demonstrable recurrence was 90% after 5 years, while the corresponding figure for a symptomatic recurrence was 40%. This indicates that the routine performance of postoperative colonoscopies is of no value in assessing the prognosis. The probability of a reoperation was 21% after 5 years; in cases where both the ileum and colon were involved the probability was three times as high as in those with isolated involvement of either the small or the large intestine. Post-operatively, a substantial reduction in disease activity of several years' duration was achieved in the overall majority of cases.