Lower extremity arterial occlusive disease as a rare complication of Crohn's disease.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the clinical characteristics and treatment strategy of lower extremity arterial occlusive disease in patients with Crohn's disease (CD).


METHODS
Clinical information of 9 cases suffering from lower extremity arterial occlusion and CD was investigated retrospectively.


RESULTS
All the cases were less than 50 years old and the most were females (8/9). Arterial occlusions occurred in either active (5/9) or inactive (4/9) stage of CD. Besides the arteries of lower extremities, other arteries could also be involved such as aorta, iliac artery, renal artery or mesentery artery. Seven cases had atherosclerotic imaging findings (4 had aortic plaques and 6 had iliac artery stenoses). Embolectomy or thromboendarterectomy were mostly performed. Four (44.4%) cases had recurrent lower limb ischemia.


CONCLUSIONS
Arterial occlusive disease is a rare extraintestinal manifestation of CD. A thorough inspection of aorta is necessary. Embolectomy is mostly preferred. Anticoagulation treatment is highly recommended after the operation.
Department of Vascular Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
Wei-Wei
WW
Wu
Xue-Ying
XY
Jiang
Chang-Wei
CW
Liu
Yong-Jun
YJ
Li
Rong
R
Zeng
D000328:Adult; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000150:complications*; D017128:Embolectomy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg; D008297:Male; D017131:Thrombectomy; D055815:Young Adult