The "Double" Diagnostic Delay in Crohn's Disease during the COVID-19 Pandemic

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, greater attention was paid to all frail patients including those with IBD. The overall available evidence suggests that IBD patients do not have an increased risk of developing COVID-19 and should stay on IBD medications. COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly spread in Italy in late February 2020. Almost all surgical services have been reorganized, with the aim of maintaining an adequate therapeutic path, especially for surgical emergencies. A reduction in surgical emergencies has certainly been documented but not in their severity. This is because in “COVID era” patients are still afraid to go to the hospital even in the presence of severe symptoms. We describe a series of cases of severe presentation of Crohn's disease treated between April and May 2020 with perforating and/or bowel obstruction.