management of children
Last reviewed 10/2021
The aims of management of children with Crohn's disease are as follows:
- to induce remission followed by prevention of relapse (1)
- to reverse the failure of growth
According to recent data, much more widespread involvement of the gastrointestinal tract has been suggested in children with Crohn’s disease.
- majority of them have both small bowel and colonic involvement
- isolated small bowel disease is seen only in 9% and isolated colonic disease in only 7% of the children (1)
The management is in three arms:
- nutrition
- medical
- surgical
Exclusive enteral nutrition and oral corticosteroids have been the preferred treatment in most children. For children with severe disease at diagnosis, azathioprine has been used recently in some centres (1).
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