Percutaneous abscess drainage in Crohn's disease.

Purpose: To evaluate the success of percutaneous, CT-guided abscess drainag e (PAD) in patients with Crohn's disease. Methods: Within the last 5 years 8 patients with Crohn's disease were treated by PAD for intra-abdominal abs cesses. A fistula was determined to be the cause in 4 patients. The abscess es arose spontaneously in 7 patients while one patient had a postperative a bscess. We used single lumen 10 F- and double lumen 12 F- and 14 F-catheter s for drainage (duration of drainage 8-20 days). Results: In all cases the abscess was successfully drained by PAD. However, an operation-free interva l of at least three months was achieved in only two patients. A healing of the fistula was not attained in any of the 4 patients with a proven fistula . No enterocutaneous fistulas arose within the course of PAD. Conclusions: PAD is also useful for patients with Crohn's disease since it improves the starting situation for the necessary operative interventions. In most cases (especially with enterogenic fistulas), however, a long-lasting therapeuti c result cannot be expected.