Laparoscopic ileo-colic resection and right hemicolectomy for Crohn's disease and colon cancer: a preliminary comparative study on post-operative outcome

Outcomes after right-sided colon surgery in Crohn's disease versus cancer

BACKGROUND

Surgery for Crohn's disease (CD) is considered to have more complications due to the underlying inflammation, immunosuppression, and malnutrition. We sought to study the outcomes of right-sided colonic resection in patients with CD and patients with cancer at a high-volume tertiary center utilizing a standardized perioperative protocol.

METHODS

This is a retrospective study of outcomes for all patients with CD or patients undergoing ileocolic resection or right hemicolectomy with ileocolic anastomosis at a single institution from 2013 to 2022. Patients were excluded if they simultaneously underwent another procedure or ostomy creation. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon rank-sum and chi-squared tests for univariate analyses, and logistic and linear regressions for multivariate analyses.

RESULTS

In total 141 patients with CD and 589 patients with cancer were included. Patients with CD were significantly younger with lower body mass index and less likely to have comorbidities, including diabetes and hypertension. Patients with CD were less likely to have a smoking history or prior abdominal surgery, but more likely to be on steroids. Both groups had similar rates of laparoscopy, intraoperative complications, and blood loss. Despite the preoperative and intraoperative differences, both patients with CD and patients with cancer had similar lengths of stay (LOS), readmission, reoperation, and mortality rates. None of the surgical outcomes differed significantly between the two groups. On multivariate analysis, CD diagnosis was not associated with reoperation, readmission, mortality, or LOS while controlling for other characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS

With the use of standardized perioperative protocols, surgery for CD at a high-volume center with expertise in CD can be performed with comparable results to other indications like cancer.

The Effect of Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha Therapy within 12 Weeks Prior to Surgery on Postoperative Complications in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The rate of abdominal surgical interventions and associated postoperative complications in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients is still substantially high. There is an ongoing debate as to whether or not patients who undergo treatment with anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) agents may have an increased risk for general and surgical postoperative complications. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted in order to assess the effect of anti-TNF-α treatment within 12 weeks (washout period) prior to abdominal surgery on 30-day postoperative complications in patients with IBD. The results of previously published meta-analyses examining the effect of preoperative anti-TNF-α treatment on postoperative complications reported conflicting findings which is why we specifically focus on the effect of anti-TNF-α treatment within 12 weeks prior to surgery. PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus, Web of Science, World Health Organization Trial Registry, ClinicalTrials.gov and reference lists were searched (June 1995−February 2022) to identify studies, investigating effects of anti-TNF-α treatment prior to abdominal surgery on postoperative complications in IBD patients. Pooled odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated and subgroup analyses were performed. In this case, 55 cohort studies (22,714 patients) were included. Overall, postoperative complications (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.04−1.45; p = 0.02), readmission (OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.11−1.73; p = 0.004), and intra-abdominal septic complications (OR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.44−2.49; p < 0.00001) were significantly higher for anti-TNF-α-treated patients. Significantly higher intra-abdominal abscesses and readmission were found for anti-TNF-α-treated CD patients (p = 0.05; p = 0.002). Concomitant treatment with immunosuppressives in <50% of anti-TNF-α-treated patients was associated with significantly lower mortality rates (OR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.12−0.83; p = 0.02). Anti-TNF-α treatment within 12 weeks prior to surgery is associated with higher short-term postoperative complication rates (general and surgical) for patients with IBD, especially CD.

Repeated surgery for recurrent Crohn's disease: does the outcome keep worsening operation after operation? A comparative study of 1224 consecutive procedures

Complicated Crohn’s disease (CD) will require surgical treatment during patients’ lifetime, with a considerable recurrence rate requiring additional surgery. The present study is a retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database in an IBD Tertiary Centre that included all the consecutive, unselected patients undergoing surgery for CD between 1993 and 2019. Patients treated with small bowel resections, colonic resections, conventional and non-conventional strictureplasties were considered. The aim was to evaluate morbidity and long-term recurrence of repeated surgery. Among the population included, the following procedures were performed: 713 (58.2%) primary surgery (group S1), 325 (26.5%) first recurrence (group S2), and 186 (15.3%) multiple recurrences (group S3). Patients undergoing repeat surgery were older (p < 0.0001) and had a longer disease duration (p < 0.0001), extended disease (p = 0.0001), shorter time frame to first surgery (p < 0.0001), nutritional impairment (p < 0.0001), and a history of aggressive medical therapy (p = 0.04). Patients undergoing surgery for recurrences required higher complexity level surgery, with more conservative approaches (p = 0.0004) and a higher ostomy number (p = 0.06). Recurrent patients had higher short bowel syndrome rate (p < 0.0001), higher minor (p = 0.04) but not major (p = 0.2) postoperative complications rate. The 10-year surgical recurrence rate was 18% for group S1, 27% for S2, and 48% for S3, with significant differences at the log-rank test. Repeated surgery for complicated CD was associated with an increased rate of minor, but not major complications, requiring high-risk surgery, with a major ostomy rate and short bowel syndrome, and is associated with an increased long-term surgical recurrence, even on strictureplasty sites.

Relationship between Nutritional Screening Tools and GLIM in Complicated IBD Requiring Surgery

BACKGROUND

Accurate identification of malnutrition and preoperative nutritional care in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) surgery is mandatory. There is no validated nutritional screening tool for IBD patients. We developed a novel nutritional screening tool for IBD patients requiring surgery and compared it with other tools.

METHODS

we included 62 consecutive patients scheduled for elective surgery. The IBD Nutritional Screening tool (NS-IBD) was developed to screen patients for further comprehensive assessment. NRS-2002, MUST, MST, MIRT, SaskIBD-NR are compared with the new test. All screening tests were subsequently related to new GLIM criteria.

RESULTS

according to GLIM criteria, 25 (40%) IBD patients were malnourished (15 CD and 10 UC, 33% vs. 63%, p = 0.036). Stage 1 malnutrition was reported in ten patients, while stage 2 was detected in 15 patients. The comparison of each nutritional risk tool with GLIM criteria showed sensitivity of 0.52, 0.6, 0.6, 0.84, 0.84 and 0.92 for SASKIBD-NR, MUST, MST, NRS-2002, MIRT, and the new NS-IBD, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

in IBD, currently adopted nutritional screening tools are characterized by a low sensitivity when malnutrition diagnosis is performed with recent GLIM criteria. Our proposed tool to detect malnutrition performed the best in detecting patients that may require nutritional assessment and preoperative intervention.

Abdominal Surgery in Crohn's Disease: Risk Factors for Complications

Introduction

Abdominal surgery in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) is challenging, especially in the biologic era. The aim of this study was to evaluate factors associated with increased risk for postoperative complications in CD.

Methods

A retrospective study was conducted with consecutive patients who underwent abdominal surgery for CD from January 2012 to January 2018.

Results

Of 103 patients, 32% had postoperative complications. Gender, age, disease location and phenotype, hemoglobin and albumin levels, previous abdominal surgery, and preoperative optimization did not differ between the groups with or without complications. Thirty-five percent of the patients were under anti-TNF therapy, and this medication was not associated with increased risk for postoperative complications. Time since the onset of the disease was significantly higher in patients with complications (12.9 vs. 9.4, p = 0.04). In multivariate analysis, creation of ostomy and urgent surgery were the only variables independently associated with increased risk for complications (OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.12-9.46 and OR 2.94, 95% CI 0.98-9.09, respectively).

Conclusion

Urgent surgery for CD should preferably be performed in specialized centers, and creation of stoma is not necessarily associated with lower rate of postoperative complications but rather less severe complications.