Crohn's ileitis and ileocolitis: a study of the anatomical distribution of recurrence

The records were reviewed of 56 consecutive patients with Crohn's disease (CD) who had had an ileocolonic anastomosis formed during surgical resection for Crohn's ileitis or ileocolitis. Twenty-seven patients (48%) were found to have radiological, pathological, or surgical evidence of recurrent CD. Of 24 patients with a diagnosis of Crohn's ileitis at initial surgery, 9 were found to have recurrent disease proximal to the anastomotic site. Of 32 patients with ileocolitis, 11 had recurrent disease proximal and distal to the anastomosis. Contrary to many prior reports, recurrent CD is not always located proximally to a surgical anastomosis. The distribution of recurrent CD tends to be a statistically significant function of the initial anatomical location with proximal recurrence found most often in Crohn's ileitis, while proximal and distal recurrence is associated with Crohn's ileocolitis (X2 = 4.5 P less than 0.05).