Surgical management of upper gastrointestinal and small bowel Crohn’s disease

Burill Crohn’s convincing description of the disease that now carries his name conceived of the illness as arising exclusively from the terminal ileum, involving other sites only secondarily. As a result, he took the condition to be curable by an adequate operative resection. The current concept is that Crohn’s disease may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. The practical implication of this change in thinking is the need to conserve bowel when weighing medical and surgical options for each child. Operations should be used to treat complications of the disease. Absolute indications for the surgery are uncommon and include perforation, bleeding, and refractory obstruction. The margins of resection need only include a short amount of grossly normal intestine. Strictureplasty to relieve obstruction without resection should be done when applicable. Maintenance medication after an operation to limit recurrence or recrudescence is frequently advocated.