How to treat anal fistula?

The article is professionally consulted by resident Doctor Le Thanh Tuan - Department of General Surgery - Vinmec Nha Trang International General Hospital.

An anal fistula is a small tunnel under the skin that connects the abscess to the infected sebaceous gland. With symptoms of pain and a lot of pus discharge, the patient is uncomfortable. Currently, the main treatment for this disease is surgery.

1. Causes of anal fistula

Several sebaceous glands are scattered just inside the anal opening, sometimes, these sebaceous glands are blocked or blocked due to various reasons. At that time, bacteria will accumulate to create an abscess. If left untreated, this abscess will get bigger and eventually, it will move to the outside and punch a hole in the skin near the anus, creating an opening to the outside. A fistula near the anus is a tunnel that connects the inflamed gland to this external opening.
Most causes of abscess will lead to anal fistula, however, there are other but rarer causes such as tuberculosis, sexually transmitted disease or anal fistula in neonates due to congenital .

Rò hậu môn không chữa trị sớm sẽ trở thành áp xe

2. Symptoms of anal fistula

The most common ones are:
Soreness in the bottom of the buttocks Red, swelling around the anus Fever, discharge, pus near the anal opening

3. Diagnosis

If your doctor suspects you have an anal fistula, in addition to asking about your medical history and current symptoms, your doctor will examine the site of the fistula. However, in some patients the fistula is easy to detect but in others it is difficult to detect because the fistula has closed. Your doctor will look for signs of discharge or bleeding. However, if only looking, it is difficult to detect whether there is a fistula through the anal canal or not. Therefore, to identify an anal fistula, the physician must perform a manual anal examination.
Besides, the doctor can appoint the patient to go for an analoscopy so that the doctor can look for abscesses and clear holes inside of the anus and rectum, in addition, the patient can have an X-ray. X-ray or CT scan helps to clearly identify the fistula.

4. Treatment of anal fistula

Currently, there is no medication to treat this anal fistula, so the only treatment is surgery.
For a simple fistula located not too close to the anus, the doctor will make an incision and the muscle surrounding the tunnel, drain the pus, and drain the fistula clean.
For more complicated fistulas, the doctor may place seton in the fistula to drain pus and secretions from the infection during surgery. Seton time can last from 6 weeks or more.

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Translation source: Mayoclinic.org

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Bài viết này được viết cho người đọc tại Sài Gòn, Hà Nội, Hồ Chí Minh, Phú Quốc, Nha Trang, Hạ Long, Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng.