New Advances in Surgical Treatment of Crohn's Disease

Despite many advances in medical treatment of Crohn's disease, the majority of patients continue to require surgical intervention at some point in their disease process. New advances in surgical techniques tend to focus on improving quality of life for patients with Crohn's disease, while minimizing level of invasiveness. In the appropriate setting, strictureplasty revision now replaces resection of small bowel, laparoscopic procedures can be performed rather than open surgery, a restorative procedure may infrequently eliminate permanent ileostomy, and an anal fistula plug alleviates loss of continence. Each of these fields is continuing to progress and change the way we treat Crohn's patients. This article reviews some of the findings for each of these techniques and their impact and applicability to patients with Crohn's disease.