Purpose: Many kinds of substances are produced on vascular endothelial activation. The aim of this study is to confirm an increase in Endothelin-1 (ET-1), the most potent vasoconstrictor, which is produced by endothelial activation, in patients with chronic anal fissure and to infer the relationship between ET-1 and anal fissure chronicity.
Methods: The study groups are divided into three different groups with 30 subjects each. Group 1 is comprised of healthy volunteers, group 2 of chronic anal fissure patients, and Group 3 of patients with higher than 3rd degree hemorrhoids. Blood samples were taken to measure the ET-1 levels in subject's serum and to compare the results with those for the control groups.
Results: Among the 90 subjects, 38 were male, and 52 were female. The average age was 36.8. The average ET-1 level marked 1.47 ± 0.78 pg/mL for male subjects and 1.16 ± 0.47 pg/mL for female subjects (P = 0.02). The average ET-1 level in the patient groups is as follow: 1.21 ± 0.44 pg/mL in group 1, 1.46 ± 0.83 pg/mL in group 2, and 1.20 ± 0.56 pg/mL in group 3 (P = 0.14).
Conclusion: Group 2, the chronic anal fissure patient group, showed a higher ET-1 level than groups 1 and 3, the control group and the hemorrhoid patient group, but this difference had no statistical significance.
Keywords: Chronic anal fissure; Chronicity; Endothelin-1; Endothelium; Ischemia.