How is anal fistula treated?
Anal fistula is a medical term for an infection between the skin and a muscle opening at the end of the gastrointestinal tract. Anal fistula is the result of an infection in the area of the anal skin that usually requires treatment for the anal fistula
Anal fistula involves an opening around the anus from which pus occasionally comes out.
Throughout the large intestine, and especially near the exit of the stool (anus), there are glands that, like sweat glands, are responsible for secreting substances that, depending on the type of secretion, play a role in ensuring the overall health of the body. The opening of these glands opens into the intestine and their secretions are discharged into the large intestine.
First we will explain about anal abscess which is one of the causes of anal fistula.
What is an abscess around the anus?
If the glands near the anus close, the gland becomes infected and gradually swells and contains pus. This condition causes an abscess near the anus.
Types and symptoms of anal abscess
Anal abscess may be superficial and present as swelling with severe pain at the edge of the anus. The abscess is warmer than elsewhere and may be accompanied by redness and inflammation of the surrounding tissues.
Superficial types of anal abscesses are the most common type of anal abscesses, and this article only describes this type.
Occasionally, abscess pus may seep into deeper areas, causing deeper types of anal abscesses.
The anal abscess gradually becomes more swollen and painful, making it difficult for the patient to walk and sit. Sometimes the opening of the abscess opens spontaneously and the blood and pus are drained, and the severity of the pain decreases after draining the pus.
Treatment of anal abscess
In cases where the abscess does not drain spontaneously, the only definitive treatment is to cut the abscess and drain it. The severity of the pain is reduced following the removal of pus by local anesthesia or general anesthesia performed by a surgeon. After surgery, the patient is usually discharged the same evening or the day after hospitalization.
After draining the pus, it is necessary for the patient to sit in a basin of warm water containing a few drops of betadine 3 to 4 times, each time for 20 minutes, to disinfect the pus and dress it after drying the site. This continues until the inflammation is completely gone, which is about two weeks.
If the inflammation is severe, injectable or oral pus may also start for the patient, depending on the surgeon.
If there is pain from the incision, painkillers can be used. Inflammation will usually go away after about a week.
What are the complications if anal abscess is not treated in time?
Failure to treat the disease in a timely manner can cause the symptoms of the infection to spread and the infection to spread throughout the body. If the complication worsens, dead tissue around the abscess should be removed.
Lack of timely treatment of abscesses in the elderly and people with diabetes or people with low physical fitness can also be life-threatening.
Fistula around the anus
After draining the abscess spontaneously or by a surgeon, after about two weeks the symptoms disappear completely and the person regains his full health, but in some people the opening is used to remove the pus surgically or partially. Created spontaneously, remains open.
This opening actually leads to the large intestine and anus through a narrow canal, and like a narrow tunnel, connects the skin around the anus to the large intestine. This narrow duct is called a fistula around the anus. However, sometimes a person develops a fistula without a clear history of symptoms of anal abscess.
Symptoms of anal fistula
Continuous or intermittent discharge
There is a hard and painful bulge when touched
Pain during or after defecation
– Discoloration of the skin around the fistula
Anal fistula causes the microbial contents of the large intestine to pass under the skin through the duct, and over time, causes an infection or discharge or abscess or a condition such as a pimple that causes pain and discharge in the area. And after the discharge is discharged, the pain subsides
reasons
Tissue loss due to the development of an underlying abscess, the development of an infection due to a rupture in the anal canal, and sometimes radiation-induced factors such as trauma, rectal infection (including a microbe called chlamydia), cancer, and radiation therapy.
Treatment of anal fistula
The only treatment for this disease is surgery, a small surgery to remove the fistula. This is usually done under local anesthesia (although general anesthesia is sometimes needed).
Depending on the depth of the conflict, different surgical procedures are used. After surgery, the patient is usually discharged the same evening or the day after hospitalization.
Care of the operated site is by sitting in a basin of warm water containing a few drops of betadine, three to four times a day for 20 minutes each time, which lasts for two weeks. If there is pain, painkillers are used. Other care is explained to the patient depending on the surgeon.
It is noteworthy that today anal fistula surgery can be performed with laser. In this operation, high-power lasers should be used and surgical procedures such as open surgery should be performed.
The benefits of laser
Why is laser preferred to open surgery?
The laser repairs the end of the severed nerve when the skin tag is cut and removed, so the patient has little or no pain after the operation.
The laser repairs small vessels cut during pregnancy and thus reduces bleeding during surgery.
This operation can be performed on an outpatient basis without anesthesia.
The patient rests only the first night and does not need to rest more.
The patient has a faster return to work and normal life.
With this type of laser, all types of hemorrhoids and even fissures and fistulas can be treated simultaneously.
The laser sterilizes the operation site and reduces the infection at the operation site. It is noteworthy that the transmission of viral diseases such as hepatitis and AIDS is reduced to zero.
The laser does not damage the surrounding tissue during the operation and does not cause necrosis like a catheter, so the pain after the operation is reduced and the anal sphincter is not damaged. This advantage of the laser reduces the complication of anal incontinence.
Source – Bitoteh