Abstract

Endoscopic laser Doppler flowmetry was used to measure neoterminal ileal blood flow in 16 patients who had undergone ileocolonic resection for Crohn's disease and had since remained clinically and biochemically free of disease, and eight control patients who had undergone similar surgery for colonic carcinoma. Four patients with clinically active Crohn's disease of the terminal ileum were also studied. Neoterminal ileal recurrence in those with inactive Crohn's disease was graded endoscopically. The median and minimum of five local blood flow measurements performed in each patient were inversely correlated with the endoscopic recurrence grade (r = -0.52, p = 0.04 and r = -0.63, p = 0.01 respectively). Relative to the control group, median blood flow was non-significantly lower in the inactive Crohn's disease group as a whole (p > 0.05) but was significantly reduced in patients with active disease (p = 0.02). A progressive reduction in tissue perfusion may accompany recurrence of Crohn's disease while at a subclinical stage.