[Personal experience with the treatment of chronic anal fissures using internal lateral sphincterotomy]

The author describes the therapeutic results in 48 patients with chronic anal fissure by means of internal lateral sphincterotomy (ILS). He operated patients where the complaints did not recede after conservative treatment supplemented by divulsion of the anus. In 43 patients (89.58%) in the course of two to three weeks the anal fissure healed. Only four patients (8.33%) experienced after operation a slight discomfort such as itching in the perianal region. A relapse after temporary improvement occurred in one patient (0.49%). ILS is a simple and safe operation performed under general anaesthesia after precise differentiation of the internal sphincter. The results of surgical treatment are very satisfactory the marked painfulness recedes immediately after operation, the fissure heals rapidly after relaxation of the spasm of the internal sphincter. Postoperative treatment is simple, the percentage of complications is small. None of the patients operated in the authors' department developed incontinence.