The candle as an improvised anal dilator following surgery for anorectal malformation

Anal dilation with Hegar dilator is recommended as part of the post-operative management following surgical correction of anorectal malformation (ARM) in children to prevent strictures. Parents usually continue dilation at home with a personal set of dilators. However, in low-resource settings, many parents cannot afford the Hegar dilator. Devices that have been improvised as dilators include appropriately sized candles, spigot from Foley catheter, rounded ball pen ends and mothers' fingers. We aimed to report our preliminary experience with the use of candle as an improvised anal dilator following surgeries for ARM in our practice.

A review of records of children who had surgery for ARMs and commenced on candle dilation between February 2018 and July 2019 at our centre was done. Relevant demographic information, type of anomaly, duration of dilation, availability of health insurance coverage, complications and parents' acceptance of improvised dilator (evaluated during scheduled follow up visits) were retrieved. The data were analysed using SPPSS version 21 (Chicago, Illinois).

Nineteen patients underwent anal dilation with improvised candles during the period. Rectobulbar and rectovestibular fistulas were most frequent anomaly in boys and girls, respectively. The median age at surgery was 6 months. The median duration of dilation (completed in 9 patients) was 7 months. Candle dilation was well tolerated, and all parents were comfortable using the device.

The candle as an improvised anal dilator following anorectal surgeries in children is a useful alternative to the conventional dilator. It is more affordable and gives satisfactory results.