Fissure in ano

The present study documents a 15 year experience with anal dilatation in patients with fissure in ano. Patients who were unable to tolerate rectal examination were admitted urgently for anal dilatation. Patients in whom rectal examination and proctoscopy was possible were offered an anal dilator and were reviewed after 4 weeks. Patients who preferred not to use an anal dilator or who had not become asymptomatic were admitted for elective anal dilatation. Four finger anal dilatation was performed under general anaesthesia. Between 1975 and 1990 104 patients underwent 111 procedures. The male to female ratio was 1.3:1. Five patients were re-operated because of failure of resolution of symptoms. Three patients with anal fissures and Crohn's disease were successfully managed by anal dilatation. Nine patients had excision of a 'sentinel pile' in addition to anal dilatation. Ten patients were admitted acutely. One patient developed a perineal haematoma. Seventy-four procedures were performed as day cases. There was no mortality associated with the procedure. At the time of discharge from the clinic no patient complained of problems with continence. These results support our policy of gentle anal dilatation as first management choice in the treatment of anal fissure.