Annals of surgery
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Nearly 30% of patients with Crohn's disease requiring operative treatment have severe peripheral lymphopenia. The surgical significance of this finding had not been previously determined. One hundred fifty-eight patients with Crohn's disease admitted for resection of the diseased bowel were studied. ⋯ Also, lymphopenic patients were more likely to require separate resections of the diseased bowel and more than one anastomosis. Postoperative follow-up revealed that patients with preoperative lymphopenia had a markedly higher incidence of symptomatic recurrences within 3 years of operation (67 vs. 36%, p less than 0.01). It appears that the preoperative peripheral lymphocyte count may be used as an indicator of disease severity and prognosis in patients with Crohn's disease.