Published online Mar 27, 2025. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v17.i3.103953
Revised: January 10, 2025
Accepted: January 21, 2025
Published online: March 27, 2025
Processing time: 81 Days and 8.9 Hours
In hemorrhoidal disease, despite the existence of numerous treatment options to alleviate symptoms, surgical intervention continues to be the gold standard. The advantages and disadvantages of many methods have been shown in numerous studies However, only a few studies have compared the effectiveness of combined methods.
To compare the results of a coloproctology clinic that switched to the Doppler-guided hemorrhoidal artery ligation (DG-HAL) + Ferguson hemorrhoidectomy (FH) technique from the FH in the treatment of hemorrhoidal disease.
In this retrospective cohort, data from a total of 45 patients who underwent DG-HAL + FH (n = 24) and FH (n = 21) for grade III hemorrhoidal disease between 2020 and 2022 were analyzed. Demographic and clinical data, surgical duration, intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, postoperative analgesic consumption, pain scores using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), complications, time to return to normal activities, and the recurrence rate were compared in both groups.
The study included 45 patients, with 75.6% (n = 34) male and 24.4% (n = 11) female. The rate of intraoperative blood loss was higher in the FH group (P < 0.05). The VAS scores and postoperative complication rates were similar in both groups. The need for postoperative analgesics was lower in the DG-HAL + FH group (2 vs 4 days, P < 0.05), while the FH group showed a shorter time to return to normal activities (9.5 vs 6.0 days, P = 0.02). The recurrence rate (16.7% vs 0%) and Clavien–Dindo Score-1 complications (20.8% vs 9.5%, P = 0.29) were higher in the DG-HAL + FH group but were insignificant.
Our study revealed that the addition of the DG-HAL to classical hemorrhoidectomy caused less intraoperative bleeding and a lower postoperative analgesia requirement.
Core Tip: In the contemporary treatment of hemorrhoidal disease, there is a broad spectrum of methods ranging from conservative treatments to stapled hemorrhoidectomy. The purpose of choosing combined therapy was to avoid undesirable complications such as pain and anal stenosis associated with conventional hemorrhoidectomies and to prevent potential tissue and sensory loss. We thought that non-invasive methods like Doppler or laser pexy might not be sufficient in some cases, while excision could be beneficial for prolapsed hemorrhoids. In this study, we compared the combined Ferguson approach [Ferguson + Doppler-guided hemorrhoidal artery ligation (DG-HAL)] with Ferguson hemorrhoidectomy only. We found that the duration of postoperative analgesic need was significantly lower in the DG-HAL + hemorrhoidectomy group, and the return to normal activity was quicker in Ferguson hemorrhoidectomy group.