Health-related quality of life in patients with Crohn's disease - Influence of surgical operation - A prospective trial

Improvement of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a major determinan t in decisionmaking for surgery in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). This study was designed to investigate the short- and long-term effect of surgi cal resection for CD on HRQOL. Sixteen patients were investigated within on e week before surgery and 3, 6, and 24 months postoperatively. Besides the Crohn's disease activity index (CDAZ), four instruments: the time trade-off technique (TTO), the direct questioning of objectives (DQO), the rating fo rm of inflammatory bowel disease patients concerns (RFIPC), and the Beck de pression inventory-were used for assessment of HRQOL. CDAI decreased signif icantly after operation and 10 patients remained in remission for 24 months . Two patients had postoperative relapses and went into remission after pre dnisolone treatment. Four patients developed chronic active disease. HRQOL was significantly improved in all patients three and six months postoperati vely. Except for the four patients with chronic active disease, all other p atients (N = 12) had also significantly improved HRQOL after 24 months. In conclusion, surgical resections in CD lead to a long-term improvement of HR QOL with the exception of patients with chronic active disease. This findin g might be taken in consideration for the indication of surgery in CD.