Crohn's disease with life-threatening hemorrhage from terminal ileum: successful control by superselective arterial embolization.

A case of life-threatening lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage from Crohn's disease is reported. Several promising studies have recently been published that describe superselective embolization for the treatment of massive lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage in patients with bleeding colonic diverticular disease and angiodysplasia, and success rates of 74%-93% have been reported. But in patients with Crohn's disease, successful superselective embolization has rarely been reported. This is a report of successful superselective embolization in a patient with Crohn's disease; this should be the initial treatment of choice in Crohn's disease in an attempt to avoid surgical resection, because repeated resections predispose patients to the development of short-bowel syndrome.