Published online Jan 16, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i2.366
Peer-review started: November 26, 2022
First decision: December 13, 2022
Revised: December 16, 2022
Accepted: January 3, 2023
Article in press: January 3, 2023
Published online: January 16, 2023
Processing time: 46 Days and 14.5 Hours
Hemorrhoidal disease (HD) is considered a low-severity pathology by both general population and physicians, but the lengthy conservative therapy and postoperative complications suggest otherwise.
To assess the effectiveness of different treatment options, both conservative and surgical, in contrast with some preexisting comorbidities.
We conducted a retrospective, 10-yearlong study between January 2011 and December 2021 in two surgical centers, a private and a state-owned hospital. We compared the efficacy and safety of several treatment options, such as open hemorrhoidectomy, stapled hemorrhoidopexy, rubber band ligation and infrared coagulation in terms of complication rates and types and their correlation with different preexisting comorbidities such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), use of anticoagulant medication (AM) and liver cirrhosis. We also conducted a 20-years long PubMed research (1.263 articles) for relevant comparisons.
Our study recorded 10940 patients with HD, 10241 with conservative and 699 with surgical treatment. Out of these, the male-to-female ratio of 1.3, and a peak in age distribution between 59 and 68 years old (32% of patients). For the entire study, we recorded a 90% incidence of immediate pain, immediate bleeding in 1.5% (11 cases), delayed bleeding in 1.0% (7 cases), and 0.6% surgical site infections. Urinary retention was also present, with 0.2% of patients, anal stricture in 1% and fecal incontinence for 0.5% of patients (4 cases). We recorded no severe complications such as Fournier`s gangrene or rectovaginal perforations. IBD accounted for 6% of the patients, with ulcerative colitis in 12% and Chron`s disease in 10.5%. 6.6% of the patients had AM, determining 4% immediate and 2% delayed bleeding, in surgically treated patients.
Our study determined that most common complications (pain, urinary retention, bleeding, and stricture) are correlated with each surgical technique and pre-existing comorbidities.
Core Tip: We compared the efficacy and safety for the most widely used surgical and non-surgical solutions for hemorrhoidal pathology treatment, such as hemorrhoidectomy, stapled hemorrhoidectomy, rubber band ligation (RBL), sclerotherapy, and infrared coagulation (IRC) in terms of complication rates, types of complications and implication of different preexisting comorbidities such as inflammatory bowel disease, use of anticoagulant medication and liver cirrhosis. We determined that even if RBL, RBL and IRC or IRC alone usually only require a one-day admission model, the classic or modified Milligan-Morgan technique still provides better overall long-term results, despite initially determining a higher level of pain and bleeding.