Purpose: While conventional hemorrhoidectomy is notorious for postoperative pain, stapled hemorrhoidopexy has been reported less painful because it has no anal wound. However, the safety of stapled hemorrhoidopexy is not established completely yet. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety of stapled hemorrhoidopexy through analyzing the postoperative complications.
Methods: The author analyzed the complications of 63 patients treated with stapled hemorrhoidopexy by reviewing the medical records. All of the operations were performed by one surgeon.
Results: There were 39 men and 24 women with a mean age of 47.7 years. The majority of cases were carried out under spinal anesthesia except 4 cases of general anesthesia. The combined operations were performed in 16 cases (25.4%) including skin tag excision, external hemorrhoid excision, and polypectomy. The postoperative complications were 2 cases (3.2%) of rectal stenosis, 1 case (1.6%) of thrombosis, 1 case (1.6%) of abscess, and 1 case (1.6%) of late bleeding. Three patients were needed to rehospitalized and reoperation was needed in 1 case of thrombosis. One case of rectal stenosis was treated easily by manual dilatation. However, the other rectal stenosis was treated by Hega dilatation.
Conclusion: Complications after stapled hemorrhoidopexy may be different from complications after conventional hemorrhoidectomy. However, most of the complications after stapled hemorrhoidopexy can be avoided by respecting the rectal wall anatomy during the procedure. Therefore, in terms of postoperative complications, the stapled hemorrhoidopexy may be a safe procedure.
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