A new minimally invasive treatment for anal fistula

Abstract

In colorectal surgery, eradicating the fistula and maintaining continence are still complex challenges for a colorectal surgeon. A minimally invasive method using a novel device was performed to consecutively treat 14 patients with anal fistula from August 2008 to November 2009. After a follow-up period of 36 months, 13 patients achieved successful closure of their fistula tracts, and recurrence occurred only in one patient. Recurrence was due to the delay of dressing change. No patient had interference with continence, and no major intra- and post-operative complications were identified. Using the novel device with invasive methods can be a promising alternative for managing anal fistulas.

Keywords

anal fistula / surgery / device

References

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by a grant from the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (No. 81102692, 81072943).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Rui Zhu, Lin Shen, Caoyuan Wang, Yanping Yang, Rui Chen, Hen Fang, and Xiaojuan Xu declare that they have no conflicts of interest. Informed consent was obtained from the patients for inclusion in this study. The protocol was approved by the responsible Clinical Trial Ethics Committee.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg