ABSTRACT
UNLABELLED: We analyzed the relationship between Crohn's disease and appendectomy in paediatric age. METHOD AND MATERIAL: We studied the patients diagnosed with Crohn's disease and appendectomy (under 20) between 1999 and 2011. We retrieved their previous medical histories and carried out an histological re evaluation of those appendix. RESULTS: 11 patients out of 137 (8,02%) had an appendectomy before the development of Crohn's disease. An average age in which the appendectomy took place and the development of Crohn's disease was diagnosed 14 (5-20 years), having 90% of the patients diagnosed in the early post-surgical stages. A patient did not develop any symptoms until a year later. There were no more appendectomies carried out in comparison with the adult population. The initial anatomopathologic diagnosis and the histological re evaluation agreed in just one case, compatible with Crohn's disease. CONCLUSION: The majority of appendectomies carried out in paediatric patients that later develop Crohn's disease are realized by a bias diagnosis of acute appendicitis and the relation between the two of them can be explained as the not yet developed Crohn's disease at the moment of the appendectomy. Appendectomies at a paediatric age are not associated with a potential development of Crohn's disease. There is no evidence of histological changes compatible with Crohn's disease in the first episode.
