Laparoscopic vs Conventional Ileocolectomy for Primary Crohn Disease

HYPOTHESIS Laparoscopic ileocolectomy can reduce the length of hospital stay and hospital charges compared with conventional surgery in the treatment of primary Crohn disease. DESIGN Nonrandomized, comparative, retrospective analysis of a prospective database. SETTING University hospital tertiary care center for inflammatory bowel disease. PATIENTS Forty patients, 20 in the laparoscopic group (group A) and 20 in the conventional group (group B). INTERVENTION From July 1, 1996, to June 30, 2001, we collected data on the following demographic clinical end points: age, sex, duration of disease, preoperative medical treatment, previous abdominal surgery, procedure performed, conversions to open surgery, operating time, number of trocars used, size of incision, blood loss, time to resolution of ileus, time to starting solid food diet, duration of hospital stay, hospital charges, morbidity, and mortality. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Surgical results, length of hospital stay, hospital charges, and recurrences. RESULTS The mean age of the patients was 34.7 years (range, 20-68 years) in group A vs 40.0 years (range, 18-75 years) in group B. The male-female ratio was 1:2 in group A vs 1:1 in group B. The morbidity was 5% in group B. There was no mortality. Operating time was longer in group A (mean, 145.0 minutes; range, 45-270 minutes) compared with group B (mean, 133.5 minutes; range, 98-177 minutes) (P = .36). Blood loss was significantly higher in group B (mean, 265.5 mL; range, 100-400 mL) compared with group A (77.2 mL; range, 25-350 mL) (P