Background and Aims It is unclear whether pre-pouch ileitis heralds an aggressive inflammatory pouch disease in patients with ileal-pouch anal anastomosis (IPAA). We compared outcomes of patients with pouchitis and concomitant pre-pouch ileitis to those with pouchitis alone. Methods Patients undergoing IPAA surgery for inflammatory bowel disease who subsequently developed pouchitis with concomitant pre-pouch ileitis (pre-pouch ileitis group) were matched by year of IPAA surgery and pre-operative diagnosis (ulcerative colitis or inflammatory bowel disease-unclassified) with patients who developed pouchitis alone (pouchitis group). Primary outcomes were development of Crohn’s disease (CD)-like complications (non-anastomotic strictures or perianal disease >6 months after ileostomy closure) and pouch failure. Secondary outcomes were need for surgical/endoscopic interventions and immunosuppressive therapy. Log-rank test was used to compare outcome-free survival and Cox regression was performed to identify predictors of outcomes. Results There were 66 patients in each group. CD-like complications and pouch failure developed in 36.4% and 7.6% patients in pre-pouch ileitis group and 10.6% and 1.5% in pouchitis group, respectively. CD-like complications-free survival (log-rank p=0.0002) and pouch failure-free survival (log-rank p=0.046) were significantly lower in the pre-pouch ileitis group. Pre-pouch ileitis group had a higher risk of requiring surgical/endoscopic interventions (log-rank p=0.0005) and immunosuppressive therapy (log-rank p<0.0001). Pre-pouch ileitis was independently associated with an increased risk of CD-like complications (HR 3.8; p=0.0007), need for surgical/endoscopic interventions (HR 4.1; p=0.002) and immunosuppressive therapy (HR 5.0; p=0.0002). Conclusions Pre-pouch ileitis is associated with a higher risk of complicated disease and pouch failure than pouchitis. It should be considered a feature of CD.

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