The effect of resection margin involvement of Crohn's disease on the surgical and clinical recurrence after intestinal surgery

Abstract Background Approximately 80% of patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) require major intestinal surgery during their lifetime and a quarter of patients will undergo repeat surgery within 5 years of the index surgery. For this reason, operative treatment of CD has been the bowel-sparing approach for several decades. This study evaluated the effects of the Crohn’s disease involvement of resection margin on clinical and surgical recurrence. Methods This retrospective study analysed 803 patient who underwent intestinal surgery for CD between January 2006 and December 2015. The CD involvement of resection margin was defined as microscopic involvement from the pathologic reports and grossly involvement from the operative records. Anastomosis recurrence was reviewed using the operative records and radiologic findings including colonoscopy, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Results In total, 41 patients (5.1%) had an active CD in the bowel resection margin – 31 patients (3.9%) with histologically, 10 patients (1.2%) with grossly. We had 221 (26.8%) reoperation cases, of which 87 (10.6%) patients were an anastomotic recurrence. When patients were stratified by surgical recurrence at anastomosis, the increased risk was not significant in resection margin positive grossly (odds ratio [OR], 3.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.93–14.41) and in microscopic (OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 0.43–3.70) comparing with negative resection margin. Also, resection margin involvement was not related with clinical recurrence grossly (OR, 0.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.07–1.26) and in microscopic (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.21–1.17) Conclusion The current practice suggests the CD involvement of resection margin, even grossly or microscopic, do not influence surgical and clinical recurrence.