Crohn's disease is an illness affecting the intestines which leads to the bowel wall becoming inflamed and thickened. Sadly the disease can persist for many decades and there is no cure. On a more positive note, there is much that can be done to improve the behavour of the disease process.

Crohn's disease in children differs from the disease in adults in one important respect. In children the disease frequently leads to a failure of growth. This can be a failure of the child to gain height, but also a failure to enter puberty.

The management of childhood Crohn's disease can be very complex, and often there is not a clear cut way to progress. To obtain the best results, such children should be managed by a team of people with a special interest and experience in the complexities and complications of the disease.

With my colleagues in paediatric gastroenterology in Newcastle, I now have experience of over 85 resections of diseased bowel for Crohn's disease in 72 children, and there is a link to some of our results below.

Most children now undergo a keyhole operation, and it is unusual to have to perform open surgery.

Here is a link to a video of bowel being joined together following a keyhole resection for Crohns disease.Crohns anastomosis