Short Bowel Syndrom as a Complication of Crohn’s Disease

During the course of Crohn’s disease, some patients require surgical bowel resection due to intestinal stenosis. Attention is drawn to a possible complication of such surgical procedures: in a patient with Crohn’s disease, short bowel syndrome developed following several small and large intestine resections that were necessary in the treatment of recidivating acute bowel obstructions. When the remnant small bowel is shorter than 200 cm, characteristic symptoms of short bowel syndrome develop including profuse diarrhea, signs of malabsorption, hypo­volemia and dehydration, electrolyte and metabolic disturbances, malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies. The causes and pathophysiological mechanisms of short bowel syndrome are explained and a therapeutic approach to this group of patients is described.