The effect of 18 percutaneous abscess drainage procedures on the clinical management of 10 patients with Crohn's disease was evaluated. Two abscesses occurred immediately after surgery (two patients), five were in the liver (three patients), and 11 were the result of direct spread of disease from adjacent transmural bowel involvement (seven patients). Both postoperative and all five hepatic abscesses were treated successfully with percutaneous drainage. In two of the seven patients with abscesses secondary to transmural bowel disease, percutaneous drainage resulted in resolution of the abscess without the need for any further surgical intervention. The remaining five patients had subsequent elective intestinal surgery in which a single-stage surgical resection and primary reanastomosis were performed successfully. Two of these patients had abscesses recur at the same location, prompting a repeat percutaneous drainage before surgery. No enterocutaneous fistulas secondary to percutaneous drainage developed in any of the 10 patients. These results indicate that percutaneous abscess drainage can be a valuable technique for treating abscesses that result as a complication of Crohn's disease.