Our experience with strictureplasty in the surgical treatment of Crohn's disease.

Strictureplasty is a recent surgical procedure that permits surgical cure of chronic intestinal strictures due to Crohn's disease without the need for bowel resection. The authors report the results of 19 stricture-plasties in eight patients, all of whom were affected by Crohn's disease in the chronic phase and showed subocclusive symptoms due to ileal strictures and fistulas. After surgery all patients improved, and none showed occlusive or subocclusive symptoms or signs of relapse after a mean follow-up of 16.5 months. Radiographic examination of the small bowel, when performed, showed normal transit in all patients. The authors stress the importance of performing strictureplasty only during quiescent periods of the disease and in patients in a good nutritional state, in order to avoid complications and recrudescences. If these requirements are met, stricureplasty can be very useful for saving bowel length in the surgical treatment of Crohn's disease.