[Evaluation of the mechanism determining the painful symptomatology after proctological interventions]

In order to evaluate the importance of the contraction of the perineal muscular system in causing the symptomatology following a hemorrhoidal prolapse operation, a drug, dantrolene sodium which has a known myorelaxant action due to a partial inhibition of the release of calcium ions from the sarcoplasmic reticulum in the muscular cell was used. The double-blind study involved 40 patients, of whom 20 were treated with sodium dantrolene in doses of 25 mg, twice a day, for seven days; the remaining 20 with a placebo. Symptoms, consumption of pain-killers and need for catheters, were monitored daily, while hemochemical parameters were checked before the start, and at the end of the study. The results obtained showed a similar post-operative trend in the patients receiving dantrolene and in the controls. This is interpreted as an indirect demonstration that the mechanism of pain is primarily due to the inflammatory factors rather than due to contraction of the perineal muscles.