Fertility and outcome of pregnancy in patients operated on for Crohn's disease.

Fertility and outcome of pregnancy were assessed in all 78 women below 40 years of age in a total, unselected series of patients with Crohn's disease, diagnosed during a 17-year period and consecutively treated with resectional surgery, in most cases at an early stage. The median follow-up time after the primary operation was 12.8 years. During the observation time there were 87 pregnancies in 44 patients. Neither the number of live births, nor the frequency of abortions differed from that expected in the general population. There was no still birth. The localization of the disease was not significant. In conclusion, there were no indications of any negative influence of surgical intervention.