Does stapled functional end-to-end anastomosis affect recurrence of Crohn's disease after ileocolonic resection?

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Crohn's disease is characterized by a high incidence of perianastomotic recurrence after ileocolonic resection. The influence of anastomotic configuration on the incidence of reoperation was evaluated in patients undergoing resection for Crohn's disease.

METHODOLOGY

106 patients affected by ileocolonic Crohn's disease were divided in two groups: group I with a hand-sewn end-to-side or side-to-side isoperistaltic anastomosis (30 patients) and group II with functional end-to-end anastomosis made with linear staplers (76 patients).

RESULTS

The morbidity was 4.7%: 3 complications and a postoperative death occurred in group I and two complications occurred in group II. There were 5 recurrences (16.7%) in the hand-sewn group and 2 recurrences (2.6%) in the stapled group, with a recurrence rate of 3.54 and 0.92, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Our non-randomized study suggests a better trend toward the functional stapled technique, in terms of recurrence rate. These observations need further investigation with randomized controlled trials, to compare the two different anastomotic procedures.