Background: Denovo Crohn's disease (CD) develops in 5% to 10% of patients after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) for ulcerative colitis (UC) leading to increased morbidity and rates of pouch failure. Initial nonbloody diarrhea and weight loss at diagnosis are independent risk factors for a change in diagnosis from UC to CD in nonsurgical patients. We investigated whether these features were risk factors for denovo CD in a longitudinal cohort of patients with UC undergoing IPAA.
Methods: Prospective profiles of patients with UC undergoing IPAA followed over a 22-year period by 1 surgeon were analyzed. Denovo CD was diagnosed when mucosal inflammation (5 or more ulcers) involved the small bowel mucosa proximal to the ileal pouch any time after surgery and/or when a pouch fistula or other perianal complication developed more than 3 months after ileostomy closure. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease unclassified, acute pouchitis, chronic pouchitis, and those lost to follow-up were excluded from analysis. Cox regression analysis was performed for statistical significance.
Results: Of the 199 study patients included in the analysis, denovo CD developed in 42 patients (21%). Patients who developed denovo CD had an increased incidence of nonbloody diarrhea (n = 12; 29%) compared with patients who had no evidence of pouch inflammation (n = 25; 16%) (P = 0.03). In contrast, the incidence of weight loss was not significantly increased in patients with denovo CD (n = 7; 17%) compared with patients who never had pouch inflammation (n = 16; 10%) (P = 0.12).
Conclusions: Initial nonbloody diarrhea is associated with denovo CD after IPAA. This association warrants close consideration before surgery.