A Rare Pregnancy-related Complication of Crohn’s Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment

Abstract

Question: A 35-year-old woman in her third trimester of pregnancy presented to the emergency department for fever and abdominal pain. Her past medical history consisted of ileal Crohn’s disease (CD) diagnosed 10 years ago and active smoking (without cessation during pregnancy). After failure of azathioprine and adalimumab, she was treated with infliximab for 1 year (7.5 mg/kg of body weight every 6 weeks) and considered in remission at the beginning of her pregnancy. As recommended by European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation guidelines, the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α antagonist was discontinued at gestational week 26 (aiming at limiting the fetal exposure).