Anal fistula: results of surgical treatment in a consecutive series of patients

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the results of surgical treatment of patients with anal fistulas in a consecutive series of patients. METHODS: A retrospective analytical study of a consecutive series of cases prospectively collected. The sample comprised 210 patients who underwent surgery; demographic data, signs and symptoms, intraoperative classification of the fistulas and healing time were analyzed. RESULTS: The median age was 38 years and 69.0% of the patients were male. The most frequent symptom was perianal orifice with purulent drainage. The fistulas were classified as transsphincteric in 60.9% and the most used operative treatment was the marsupialization of fistulotomy, in 84.2% of cases. Complete healing occurred in all patients between 2 and 16 weeks. One hundred and seventy-eight patients, 84.8% of the patients who underwent surgery, were evaluated at least one year after surgery and recurrence occurred in 6.4% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: There was male prevalence (2.2/1), and most fistulas were transsphincteric. The marsupialization of fistulotomy was the most used operative treatment, and it presented acceptable low rates of morbidity and recurrence of 6.4%