Surgery for luminal Crohn's disease

Many patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) require surgery. Indications for surgery include failure of medical treatment, bowel obstruction, fistula or abscess formation. The most common surgical procedure is resection. In jejunoileal CD, strictureplasty is an accepted surgical technique that relieves the obstructive symptoms, while preserving intestinal length and avoiding the development of short bowel syndrome. However, the role of strictureplasty in duodenal and colonic diseases remains controversial. In extensive colitis, after total colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis (IRA), the recurrence rates and functional outcomes are reasonable. For patients with extensive colitis and rectal involvement, total colectomy and end-ileostomy is safe and effective; however, a few patients can have subsequent IRA, and half of the patients will require proctectomy later. Proctocolectomy is associated with a high incidence of delayed perineal wound healing, but it carries a low recurrence rate. Patients undergoing proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis had poor functional outcomes and high failure rates. Laparoscopic surgery has been introduced as a minimal invasive procedure. Patients who undergo laparoscopic surgery have a more rapid recovery of bowel function and a shorter hospital stay. The morbidity also is lower, and the rate of disease recurrence is similar compared with open procedures.

Is lymphatic status related to regression of inflammation in Crohn's disease?

AIM:To investigate the status of the lymphatic vessels in the small bowel affected by Crohn's disease(CD) at the moment of surgery.METHODS:During the period January 2011-June 2011,25 consecutive patients affected by CD were operated on in our Institution.During surgery,Patent Blue Ⅴ was injected subserosally and the way it spread along the subserosa of the intestinal wall,through the mesenterial layers towards the main lymphatic collectors and eventually to the lymph nodes was observed and recorded.Since some patients had been undergone strictureplasty at previous surgery,we also examined the status of intestinal lymph vessels after previous strictureplasties.The same procedure was performed in a control group of 5 patients affected by colorectal cancer.Length of lesions,caliber,maximal thickness of the diseased intestinal wall,thickness of the wall at injection site and thickness of the mesentery were evaluated at surgery.RESULTS:We observed three features after the injection of Patent Blue Ⅴ in the intestinal loops:(1) Macroscopically healthy terminal ileum of patients with CD or colon cancer showed thin lymphatic vessels linearly directed toward the mesentery;(2) In mild lesions in which the intestinal wall did not reach 8 mm of thickness,we observed short,wide and tortuous lymphatic vessels directed longitudinally along the intestinal axis toward disease-free areas and then transversally toward the mesentery;and(3) Injection in the severely affected lesions,that had a thickness of the intestinal wall over 10 mm,did not show any feature of lymphatic vessels at least on the subserosal surface.There was a correlation between the thickness of the parietal wall and the severity of the lymphatic alterations.Normal lymphatic vessels were observed at previous strictureplasties in the presence of complete regression of the inflammation.CONCLUSION:Injection of Patent Blue Ⅴ in the intestinal wall could help distinguish healthy tracts of the small bowel from those macroscopically borderline.

Interventional inflammatory bowel disease:endoscopic therapy of complications of Crohn’s disease

Endoscopic therapy for inflammatory bowel diseases(IBD)or IBD surgery-associated complications or namely interventional IBD has become the main treatment modality for Crohn’s disease,bridging medical and surgical treatments.Currently,the main applications of interventional IBD are(i)strictures;(ii)fistulas and abscesses;(iii)bleeding lesions,bezoars,foreign bodies,and polyps;(iv)post-operative complications such as acute and chronic anastomotic leaks;and(v)colitis-associated neoplasia.The endoscopic treatment modalities include balloon dilation,stricturotomy,strictureplasty,fistulotomy,incision and drainage(of fistula and abscess),sinusotomy,septectomy,banding ligation,clipping,polypectomy,endoscopic mucosal resection,and endoscopic submucosal dissection.The field of interventional IBD is evolving with a better understanding of the underlying disease process,advances in endoscopic technology,and interest and proper training of next-generation IBD interventionalists.