Comparison of outcome in fistulectomy and Ligation of intersphinteric tract in patients of fistula in ANO.

Objective: To compare fistulectomy and ligation of inter sphincteric tract in patients of fistula in ano in terms of postoperative pain and duration of wound healing. Study Design: Prospective Experimental study. Setting: Department of General Surgery of Faisalabad Medical University and Affiliated Hospitals. Period: 22-01-2021 to 21-07-2021. Material & Methods: Computer-generated random numbers were used to assign the type of treatment (group. A or B). Group A patient underwent treatment with fistulectomy. Group B patient underwent treatment with ligation of inter sphincteric tract (LIFT). Post-operative pain was noted and scored at 12, 24 and 48 hours and after one week on visual analogue scale (VAS). Healing time noted in both groups and patients followed up for 5 months. Results: Out of these 60 study cases, 46 (76.7 %) were male patients while 14 (23.3 %) were female patients. Mean age of our study cases was 43.17 ± 10.77 years. Mean pain score in group A was noted to be 4.77 ± 0.858 while that of group B was noted to be 3.07 ± 1.01 (P<0.001). Mean duration of wound healing in group A was 7 weeks and in group B was 3 weeks(P<0.001). Conclusion: Ligation of inter-sphincteric tract is better than fistulectomy in patients of fistula in ano as it is associated with significant reduction of pain and duration of wound healing.