Strictureplasty may eliminate or decrease the extent of resection required in patients who have obstructing Crohn's disease of the small bowel. The authors performed 36 strictureplasties at 16 operations in 14 patients. Additional bowel resection was carried out in 13 of the 16 procedures. Early complications included wound infection in one patient, upper gastrointestinal bleeding in one and presumed suture-line leak, treated conservatively, in a third patient. At the end of the follow-up period (mean 16.1 months), 10 patients were asymptomatic and 4 had symptomatic recurrences; 2 of these required reoperation. A number of preoperative factors and operative techniques may have contributed to the favourable results.