Background: Many Crohn's disease patients require surgery. Intraoperative detection of new lesions may lead to change in planned surgery. This study aimed to determine whether magnetic resonance enterography can optimize surgical planning and guide decision making in Crohn's disease.
Methods: Seventy-five patients with complicated Crohn's disease were enrolled and underwent preoperative magnetic resonance enterography. Analysis included imaging accuracy and change in surgical strategy due to discordance with imaging findings.
Results: Surgery was performed laparoscopically in 39/75 patients (52 %), with conversion to open surgery required in six (15 %). Concordance between observers was excellent (kappa value >0.8). Magnetic resonance enterography accuracy for stenosis, abscess, and fistula were all above 85 % in per-patient analysis. In 68/75 cases (90.7 %) surgery was correctly predicted. Conversely, in 7/75 cases (three false-positives and four false-negatives) surgical strategy (type of resection or strictureplasty, n = 5) and/or surgical approach (conversion from laparoscopy to open surgery, n = 2) changed due to discordance with magnetic resonance enterography findings.
Conclusion: Surgical strategy and approach are correctly predicted by magnetic resonance enterography in the majority of patients with complicated Crohn's disease.