CRE Balloon dilation

[Seb]

Hi
Yesterday i had a colonoscopy done, i have had crohns for appr 15yrs. when first diagnosed had major surgery and resection done. since then i have only had a few flare ups.. when i had the colonoscopy yest , my specialist had to do a balloon dilation and open up the bowel to 16mm/ also mild crohns was found in this spot. The report is Anastomotic Crohns disease with stricturing. i have been put on 25g of predisilone which i have had once before. and i have to see him again in 6weeks. he said that i may have to go on meds full time , but will discuss this with me. not sure what way to go, as i dont really get sick.. he said that if he didnt do the dilation my bowel could have blocked because of the crohns.. anyone had a dilation and does if so is it possible that it would stay at 16mm or does it go back to being narrow.. he does not want me to have to go thru surgery again (HMM And neither do i )

 

[shamrock15]

I would think you need some sort of maintenance med at this point. I too have (had) lots of strictures, and a couple dilatations. The one in my colon didn't really do the job, and I needed surgery for that one. The second one I had done was in the rectum, where it kept the colonoscopy capsule from passing. That was necessary, and fortunately it has been reasonably under control since then. If your stricture is close to the rectum, there is something called proctofoam that you can use occasionally to help out - it has worked really well for me.