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About 80% of people with Crohn’s disease turn to surgery for relief from this inflammatory bowel disease. Here are some of the more common surgical procedures we offer for managing Crohn’s disease.
Living with an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) like Crohn’s disease is challenging, and, over time, the complications — and discomfort — can pile up, often making surgery a good idea.
Between 2.4 and 3.1 million Americans have IBD, which includes either Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, and about 80% of Crohn’s disease patients will undergo surgery at some point in their lives.
As surgical experts with a good deal of experience in treating inflammatory bowel disease, the team at Fairfax Colon & Rectal Surgery reviews a few of the different ways we manage Crohn’s disease through surgery.
Our goals in providing surgical care for Crohn’s disease are to alleviate complications and improve the quality of life of our patients, which we can accomplish in several different ways.
Strictureplasty
When you have Crohn’s disease, there’s chronic inflammation in your intestines, which can lead to the formation of scar tissue. These scar tissues can constrict your intestine, creating potentially dangerous and painful blockages.
With a strictureplasty, we go in and repair the intestine without removing any portion, which helps preserve full function.
Bowel resection
With this procedure, we go in and remove diseased portions of your small or large intestine (bowel). This procedure is a step up from strictureplasty, and we recommend it when there’s a lot of scar tissue in your intestines or if we find precancerous cells in your bowels.
Fistula and abscess surgery
A common complication of Crohn’s disease are fistulas, which are abnormal tunnels that form around your anus and are often a result of anal abscess.
Anal fistulas and abscesses can be painful, but we can go in and surgically address both abscesses and fistulas to make you more comfortable. Better still, we can often perform these procedures on an outpatient basis.
Colectomy
If you’ve had Crohn’s for some time, your colon can become increasingly diseased, rendering it more of a liability than an asset.
If there’s little we can do to repair or preserve your colon, we can remove this section of bowel entirely and attach the lower part of your small intestine (ileum) to your rectum.
Proctocolectomy
If there’s considerable damage to your colon and rectum because of Crohn’s disease or there are early signs of colorectal cancer, we can remove both organs during a procedure called proctocolectomy.
Once we remove your colon and rectum, we create a small opening in your abdomen called a stoma and attach the end of your small intestine to this outlet. This procedure, which is called an ileostomy, diverts waste through the hole and into an ostomy bag you wear on the outside.
As you can see, we offer many surgical options for managing the often serious complications that develop when you have Crohn’s disease. Rest assured, we exhaust nonsurgical options first, but when these treatments cease to work, surgery can be the next logical step.
For expert and compassionate surgical care of your Crohn’s disease, we invite you to contact one of our offices in Fairfax, Fair Oaks, Alexandria, Gainesville, or Lansdowne, Virginia, to schedule a consultation.