Pregnancy and delivery in patients with Crohn's disease who had a history of abdominal surgery

Abstract

A few studies have focused on pregnancy and childbirth in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) who had a history of abdominal surgery. The objective of this study is to analyze the problems of pregnant patients with CD with a history of abdominal surgery. The rates of pregnancy-related complications and adverse birth outcomes were retrospectively analyzed in 29 patients with CD (45 pregnancies) with previous intestinal surgery. In this study, the following outcomes were observed:normal births occurred in 55.6% of the pregnancies, preterm births in 13.3%, and spontaneous abortions in 20.0%. The vaginal birth and cesarean section rates were 45.7% and 40.0%, respectively. The rate of low-birth weight infants was 14.3%. Overall, patients with CD with previous abdominal surgery can conceive and give birth. However, care needs to be taken to avoid preterm birth, spontaneous abortion, low birth weight, and cesarean delivery.