Perianal sepsis and fistula is a troublesome disease in the field of colorectal surgery in term of recurrence and fecal incontinence. The aim of our study is to evaluate the role of 'one stage complex anal fistula excision with reconstruction of anal sphincter without stool diversion' regarding fecal incontinence and recurrence. This was prospective cohort study on 175 patients of complex high peri-anal fistulae, the patients were subjected to fistulectomy and reconstruction (primary suture repair) of anal sphincter without stool diversion, the patients were followed up 1 year postoperatively after complete healing of the wound regarding their continence to stool and gases using Wexner score and recurrence of the fistula which is examined clinically and radio-logically using MRI. Among the 175 patients only four had developed fecal incontinence with varying degrees in which 2 patients developed gas incontinence and 2 patients developed soiling, after 3 months 8 patients had recurrence and after 6-9 months 6 patients developed recurrence . Also at the end of follow up period upon performing the confirmatory MRI, 2 patients showed hidden fistulous tracts ending into a high abscess cavity. This ends up into total of 16 recurrent cases. Five patients experienced delayed wound healing. In conclusion, Compared to other treatment modalities for complex anal fistula found in literature, it had been found that one stage surgery (fistulectomy with primary sphincter repair) has good results regarding healing of the fistula with low risk of incontinence, low recurrence rate and good wound healing.
Keywords: Fistulectomy; Perianal fistula; Sphincter repair; Sphinctroplasty; Trans-sphincteric fistula.
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