A prospective study of 40 patients admitted with the diagnosis of enterocutaneous fistula and prepared for definite surgical repair in the form of resection anastomosis of ECF. The investigators used preoperative serum C-reactive protein as predicting factor to recurrence and independent variable for timing of surgery.

There is a controversy in timing of operation. The timing depends on clinical assessment, laboratory tests and radiological investigations. The cornerstone of this decision is to control sepsis and inflammatory condition before surgery. This issue made surgeons favor longer interval between incidence of ECF and definite surgical treatment. In some cases there may be a hidden place for infection or continuation of the inflammatory situation without clear signs, which necessitated the presence of a possible indicator helps in making the surgical decision. Serum C-reactive protein is the common inflammatory marker used to exclude inflammatory condition. Although its level is within normal range but some cases showed high recurrence rate when the level exceeded certain as the investigators believed in their study. Now the investigators can say that the perioperative serum C-reactive protein level can be used as an objective parameter for helping to make surgical decision and reduce recurrence of ECF.

Inclusion Criteria:

• patients with ECF were included in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Cases submitted for surgical treatment with protecting stoma or terminal were excluded from our study. Other fistulas like perianal, pancreatic, biliary and internal fistulas were not involved due to their different nature, treatment and prognosis