Morbidity and mortality in regional enteritis

Abstract

The morbidity and mortality in 168 patients with regional enteritis treated at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston from 1929 to 1960 have been reviewed. Every patient was traced successfully and his status determined. The mean number of hospital admissions per patient was 3.8 during the period surveyed. The most frequent major complication was intestinal obstruction, which was present in 27% of patients on their first admission, in 30% of those admitted for a second time, and in a similar proportion of patients requiring a third or fourth admission. Of all patients in the series, 70% required major operations for treatment of their disease. Half of these had one or more additional major abdominal operations on a subsequent hospital admission. The number of such surgical procedures averaged 2.8 per patient. The surgical case mortality was 6.5%. Only 4 of 29 patients with the acute regional ileitis syndrome progressed to the chronic form of the disease. Less than 10% of all patients have died of regional enteritis during the span of three decades covered by this study.