Recent developments in the surgical management of perianal fistula for Crohn's disease

Abstract

Perianal manifestations of Crohn's disease (CD) are common and, of them, fistulas are the most common. Perianal fistulas can be extremely debilitating for patients and are often very challenging for clinicians to treat. CD perianal fistulas usually require multidisciplinary and multimodality treatment, including both medical and surgical approaches. The majority of patients require multiple surgical interventions. CD patients with perianal fistulas have a high rate of primary nonhealing, surgical morbidity, and high recurrence rates. This has led to constant efforts to improve surgical management of this disease process.

Keywords Crohn's disease, perianal, perirectal, fistula, surgery

Ann Gastroenterol 2014; 27 (4): 320-330