Ann Coloproctol.  2020 Aug;36(4):243-248. 10.3393/ac.2019.10.16.1.

Clinical Characteristics and Postoperative Outcomes of Patients Presenting With Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Crohn Disease

• Moon JS
• Lee JL
• Yu CS
• Lim SB
• Park IJ
• Yoon YS
• Kim CW
• Yang SK
• Ye BD
• Park SH
• Alsaleem HA
• Kim JC

• KMID: 2506125
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3393/ac.2019.10.16.1

Abstract

Purpose
Upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract involvement in Crohn disease (CD) is rare and effectiveness of surgical treatment is limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate characteristics and surgical outcomes of upper GI CD.
Methods
Medical records of 811 patients who underwent intestinal surgery for CD between January 2006 and December 2015 at a single institution were reviewed. Upper GI CD was defined by involvement of the stomach to the fourth portion of duodenum, with or without concomitant small/large bowel CD involvement according to a modification of the Montreal classification.
Results
We identified 24 patients (21 males, 3 females) who underwent surgery for upper GI CD. The mean age at diagnosis was 27 ± 12 years, the mean age at surgery was 33 ± 11 years, and the mean duration of CD was 73.6 ± 56.6 months. Fifteen patients (62.5%) had history of previous perianal surgery. Ten patients (41.7%) had duodenal or gastric stricture and 14 patients (58.3%) had penetrating fistula; patients with fistula were significantly more likely to develop complications (57.1% vs. 20.0%, P = 0.035). One patient with stricture had surgical recurrence. In seven patients with fistula, fistula was related to previous anastomosis. Patients with fistula had significantly longer hospital stays than those with stricture (16 days vs. 11 days, P = 0.01).
Conclusion
Upper GI CD is rare among CD types (2.96%). In patients with upper GI CD, penetrating fistula was associated with longer hospital stay and more complications.

Keyword

Crohn disease; Upper gastrointestinal tract; Incidence; Treatment; Outcome