Traditional Chinese surgical treatment for anal fistulae with secondary tracks and abscess

Table 1 Demographic characteristics and clinical outcomes of the patients

	SDPC (n = 30)	FIST (s = 30)	P value
Age (yr)	44.25 ± 14.31	41.17 ± 17.58	0.744
Gender (male/female)	22/8	19/11	0.405
Fistulae type
Intersphincteric	6	5	0.739
Trans-sphincteric	24	25
Secondary tracts	21	23	0.559
Secondary abscess	9	7
Time of healing (d)	24.33 ± 4.44	31.57 ± 5.30	< 0.001
Postoperative pain scores	5.83 ± 2.50	6.37 ± 2.33	0.373
Oral analgesics (n)	10	14	0.292
Parenteral analgesics (n)	0	1	0.313
Recurrence rate (%)	3.33	0	0.313
Incontinence score
Before treatment
Intersphincteric	0.00 ± 0.00	0.20 ± 0.45	0.148
Trans-sphincteric	0.08 ± 0.28	0.12 ± 0.44	0.366
After treatment
Intersphincteric	0.17 ± 0.41	0.40 ± 0.89	0.289
Trans-sphincteric	0.13 ± 0.45	0.56 ± 1.35	0.071
Manometry
Maximal anal squeeze pressure (Kpa)
Before treatment	24.73 ± 4.39	25.31 ± 3.89	0.590
After treatment	23.17 ± 3.73	23.74 ± 4.47	0.598
Resting pressure (Kpa)
Before treatment	13.16 ± 2.23	12.66 ± 2.19	0.391
After treatment	12.36 ± 2.15	11.71 ± 1.87	0.212
Patient satisfaction	4.07 ± 0.94	3.37 ± 1.45	0.031

SDPC: Suture dragging combined with pad compression; FIST: Fistulotomy.