Research Article Long Time from Diagnosis to Surgery May Increase Postoperative Complication Rates in Elective CD Intestinal Resections: An Observational Study Paulo Gustavo Kotze , 1 Daniela Oliveira Magro , 2 Carlos Augusto Real Martinez , 2 Antonino Spinelli, 3 Takayuki Yamamoto, 4 Janindra Warusavitarne, 5 and Claudio Saddy Rodrigues Coy 2 1 Colorectal Surgery Unit, Cajuru University Hospital, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR), Curitiba, PR, Brazil 2 Colorectal Surgery Unit, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP, Brazil 3 Department of Colorectal Surgery, Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Italy 4 IBD Centre, Yokkaichi Hazu Medical Centre, Yokkaichi, Japan 5 Department of Colorectal Surgery, St. Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, UK Correspondence should be addressed to Paulo Gustavo Kotze; pgkotze@hotmail.com Received 13 December 2017; Revised 24 February 2018; Accepted 27 March 2018; Published 23 April 2018 Academic Editor: Amosy M'Koma Copyright © 2018 Paulo Gustavo Kotze et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. There is lack of data analyzing short-term postoperative complications and time from diagnosis to surgery in Crohn’s disease (CD). Aim. To compare complication rates after elective abdominal operations in CD patients with different durations of disease. Methods. Retrospective observational study with CD patients who submitted to elective intestinal resections. Patients were allocated in 2 groups according to time to surgery (TS) in less or more than 5 years. Short-term postoperative complications were analyzed and compared between the 2 groups, and binary logistic regression analysis was performed to check for significant variables. Results. 123 patients were finally included, 77 with TS > 5 years (62.6%) and 46 with TS < 5 years (37.4%). Patients with TS > 5 years had higher rates of overall surgical complications (p =0 011), reoperations (p =0 003), surgical site infections (p =0 014), anastomotic dehiscence (p =0 021), abdominal abscesses (p =0 021), and overall medical complications (p =0 019). On logistic regression, the single significant variable was the confection of stomas (OR: 3.203; 95% CI: 1.011–10.151; p =0 048). Conclusions. Patients with longer time to surgery showed a significant increase in overall medical and surgical postoperative early complications after elective intestinal resections. 1. Introduction Crohn’s disease (CD) has a progressive natural course that evolves from luminal inflammation to fibrosis and stenosis of bowel segments, potentially culminating in perforation, abscesses, and fistulas [1]. Surgery is an important tool in the management of the disease and is often used in the ste- notic and penetrating phenotypes of the disease [2]. Clearly, longer time from diagnosis to surgery tends to lead to a more complex disease phenotype, sometimes limiting the action of minimally invasive surgical procedures due to extensive masses and internal or external fistulas and involvement of adjacent healthy small bowel. There is controversy if biological agents are changing the natural history of surgery in CD. There seems to be a reduction in surgical procedures when biological therapy is appropriately timed, in population-based studies [3]. Other studies suggest that there can be a delay in the indication for surgery after persistent medical therapy, leading to significant consequences, such as more extensive procedures owing to increased severity at the time of surgery [4, 5]. Nonetheless, the extension of surgical Hindawi Gastroenterology Research and Practice Volume 2018, Article ID 4703281, 6 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/4703281