Is preoperative parenteral nutrition necessary for patients with predominantly ileal Crohn's disease?

C. Steffes and D. Fromm
Department of Surgery, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Mich.

We reviewed 46 consecutive patients with Crohn's disease predominantly affecting the ileum who specifically underwent right-sided ileocolectomy with primary anastomosis. All had a primary ileocolic anastomosis done by suture in a single-layer closed fashion. Of these 46 patients, 19.6% had overt intra-abdominal sepsis, 30.4% had prior surgery, and 95.7% were taking corticosteroid drugs just before their operation. The mean (+/- SE) age was 31.5 +/- 2.0 years. The serum albumin level was less than 35 g/L in 93.5% of patients; all had a hematocrit value less than 0.36, and 80.4% lost more than 15% of their normal body weight. No patient received parenteral nutrition either preoperatively or postoperatively. No change in the preoperative, intraoperative, or postoperative approach to treating patients with predominantly ileal Crohn's disease occurred during the 10-year period of review. There was a 2.2% incidence of perioperative complications (one superficial wound infection) and a 6.5% incidence of late (>1.49 months) complications (two suture sinuses and one wound abscess unassociated with a fistula). Our findings suggest that preoperative parenteral nutrition is unnecessary in the majority of patients with predominantly ileal Crohn's disease specifically undergoing right-sided ileocolectomy and primary ileocolic anastomosis.