Surgeons recos with stricturoplasty expertise!

Hello:

I'm based in the greater Boston area, and am looking for advice on surgeons with deep expertise in stricturoplasty for Crohn's (ideally with thousands of successful stricturoplasty operations under their belt). In my experience with my first 3 surgeries, my surgeons will say they'll attempt stricturoplasty on my strictures, but when I wake up the story is always the same - "We felt it was better/safer for you just to resect the diseased areas." In some cases I think there were legitimate reasons for this as I had perforations, fistula, etc. But in at least two cases, I believe that my stricutures *could* have been left in and dealt with via stricturoplasty. They were short enough (<5 CM) and not diseased (mainly scarring) but were removed instead of opened. Overall I feel like surgeons seem to err on the side of caution and the 'long term success' of that one operation, and not on bowel preservation (which may, in fact, lead to more surgeries over one's lifetime, but preserve more bowel). Having just about 6-7' of small bowel left (based on last measurement), and only age 44, I need to preserve every last centimeter of bowel at this point. I'm facing my fourth surgery, having been dealing with a very tight stricture in the ileum for the past year or so. I have a very good, new surgeon in Boston (MGH) who claims to have done many stricturoplasties, but want to get at least 1-2 more opinions, and ideally looking for the BEST possible surgeons regardless of location. Appreciate any advice you may have on options here -- ideally from people who've had successful stricturoplasties. Thanks in advance!

Hi Keith -

Thanks so much for the referral to Dr. Michelassi. Looks like a great option - I will connect with him.

-Ryan