Abstract
Despite advancements in medical therapy, many patients with Crohn's disease continue
to require surgery for intestinal resection and/or management of perianal disease
at some point in their disease course. Unfortunately, in this complex group of patients,
postoperative disease recurrence rates are high. Medical prophylaxis can be used to
prevent Crohn's disease recurrence or manage residual disease after surgery, but the
ideal timing to start medications after surgery varies based on patient risk factors
and patient preference for medication use. Currently, the largest medical treatment
effects are seen with thiopurines and antitumor necrosis factor antibodies, but there
are continually expanding options as new medical therapies are developed. A proposed
algorithm stratified based on patient risk factors is provided.
Keywords
Crohn's disease - postoperative recurrence - thiopurines - antitumor necrosis factor
antibodies
