Perioperative management and early complications after intestinal resection with ileocolonic anastomosis in Crohn's disease: analysis from the PRACTICROHN study

Background: This study is aimed at describing the prevalence of and risk factors associated with early post-operative complications after Crohn's disease-related intestinal resection. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of data from the PRACTICROHN cohort. Adult Crohn's disease patients who underwent ileocolonic resection with ileocolonic anastomosis between January 2007 and December 2010 were included. The complications evaluated included death, ileus, anastomotic leak, abscess, wound infection, catheter-related infection, digestive bleeding and other extra-abdominal infections that occurred in the 30 days after surgery. Results: A total of 364 patients (median age at surgery 38 years and 50% men) were included. Indication for surgery was: stricturing disease (46.4%), penetrating disease (31.3%), penetrating and stricturing disease (14.0%) or resistance to medical treatment (5.8%). Early complications were recorded in 100 (27.5%) patients, with wound infection, intra-abdominal abscess and anastomotic leakage being the most frequent complications. Median hospitalization duration was 16 days for patients with complications vs. 9 days without complications (P< 0.001). Complications were more common among patients with penetrating disease (36/114, 31.6%) and those refractory to treatment (9/21, 42.9%) compared with stricturing disease (45/169, 26.6%) or stricturing + penetrating disease (6/51, 11.8%) (P = 0.040). The rate of complications was higher among patients with diagnosis made at the time of surgery (15/31, 48.4%) compared with the rest (85/331, 25.7%) (P = 0.013). Medication received at the time of surgery did not affect the rate of complications. Conclusions: Almost a quarter of patients developed early complications after intestinal resection. Penetrating disease and urgent surgery were associated with an increased risk of complications.