Anand Morri1, Appa Rao K2, Sivasankarrao Kurra3
BACKGROUND
Fistula-in-ano is a common surgical condition managed in general surgical department, treated with various surgical methods with many efforts to avoid injury to anal sphincter and improve the outcomes in terms of fistula healing and prevent recurrences.
AIM
To evaluate the results of LIFT procedure in selective fistula patients to know its effectiveness in the management of fistula-in-ano.
METHODS
12 patients who underwent this procedure were evaluated. This prospective study was conducted over a period of one year after careful selection of patients with transsphincteric fistula with fixed inclusion and exclusion criteria.
RESULTS
Out of 12 patients, 10 patients were male and 2 were female. The mean age was 38.6 years. Of these, 9 patients were healed completely without any complications. One patient developed abscess which was drained later. One patient required additional procedure in the form of simple fistulotomy. One patient developed transient flatus incontinence which subsided later. One patient developed recurrence in 6 months.
CONCLUSION
This analysis indicates that the LIFT procedure is primarily effective for transsphincteric fistula patients with an overall fistula closure of 91.66% with low impact of sphincter damage and recurrence rate of 8.33%.
