Optimal delivery of follow-up care after surgery for Crohn’s disease: current perspectives

Despite improvements in medical therapies for Crohn’s disease (CD), up to 70% of patients require surgery within 10 years of diagnosis. Surgery is not curative, and almost all patients will experience endoscopic recurrence, and many will go on to clinical recurrence. Identifying patients at high-risk of endoscopic recurrence and standardizing postoperative assessments are essential in preventing clinical recurrence of CD. In this review, we discuss the assessment, monitoring, and treatment of postoperative CD patients. We address the various individual risk factors as well as composite risk factors. Medications used for primary CD treatment can be used in the postoperative setting to prevent endoscopic or clinical recurrence with varying efficacy, although the cost-effectiveness of these approaches are not fully understood. Future directions for postoperative CD management include evaluation of newer biologic agents such as anti-integrin therapy and fecal microbiota transplant for prevention of recurrence. Development of a standard preoperative risk assessment tool to clearly stratify those at high-risk of recurrence is necessary to guide empiric therapy. Lastly, the incorporation of noninvasive testing into disease monitoring will likely lead to early detection of endoscopic recurrence that will allow for tailored treatment to prevent clinical recurrence.