Characteristic phenotypes in Korean Crohn's disease patients who underwent intestinal surgery for the treatment

There are no previous large scale studies which have evaluated the phenotypes and clinical characteristics of Korean Crohn's disease patients who underwent intestinal resection. The purpose of this multicenter retrospective cohort study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of Korean Crohn's disease patients who underwent intestinal resection during the study period. A total of 686 patients were enrolled in this study. The study period was over a 20-yr period (1990-2009). The patients were divided into the first-10-yr group and the second-10-yr group. The phenotypes and clinical characteristics were compared between the groups. The most common site of the disease was the ileal area (37.8%) and stricturing behavior was observed in 38.3% patients. The most common type of surgery was segmental resection of the small bowel (30.6%). These phenotypes showed a similar pattern in both the first and second study period groups and did not show any significant differences between the groups. The number of registered patients increased continuously. The phenotypes of Korean Crohn's disease patients who underwent intestinal resection are different compared with previously reported clinical characteristics of general Crohn's disease patients.