Long-Term Clinical Results of Use of an Anal Fistula Plug for Treatment of Low Trans-Sphincteric Anal Fistulas

06 December 2020: Clinical Research

Yu Tao ^BCDEF , Yi Zheng ^BCDEF , Jia Gang Han ^ABCDEFG* , Zhen Jun Wang ^ACDF* , Jin Jie Cui ^BF , Bao Cheng Zhao ^BF , Xin Qing Yang ^AD

DOI: 10.12659/MSM.928181

Med Sci Monit 2020; 26:e928181

Table 2 Patient characteristics in relation to healed versus non-healed fistulas treated with an anal fistula plug.

Variables	Healed group (n=75)	Unhealed group (n=60)	P
Male to Female ratio	72: 3	54: 6	0.298^*
Age at time of surgery (years), median (range)	40.2 (23–69)	37.8 (15–55)	0.224^**
BMI (kg/m), mean±standard deviation	25.94±2.84	26.33±4.81	0.654^#
Blood leucocytes (10/L), median (range)	6.6 (4.6–9.2)	7.0 (4.5–11.3)	0.681^**
Hemoglobin (g/L), median (range)	152.9 (127–167)	156.6 (123–192)	0.048^**
Thrombocyte (10/L), median (range)	211.3 (117–288)	221.2 (123–287)	0.258^**
Albumin ≥35 g/L, n (%)	69 (92)	60 (100)	0.069^*
Fasting blood-glucose (mmol/L), median (range)	5.5 (4.1–12.1)	5.1 (4.2–7.5)	0.789^**
Smoking, n (%)	33 (44)	21 (35)	0.289^*
Alcohol consumption, n (%)	21 (28)	9 (15)	0.071^*
Diabetes mellitus, n (%)	6 (8)	0 (0)	0.069^*
Duration of fistula ≥6 months, n (%)	48 (64)	51 (85)	0.006^*
Distance between external Opening and anal verge (cm), median (range)	2.5 (1–5)	2.8 (1.5–5)	0.016^**
BMI – body mass index; ^* Chi-square test; ^** Wilcoxon rank sum test; ^# t-test. The 135 patients were divided into healed (75 cases) and non-healed groups (60 cases). The univariate analyses showed the following variables were associated with treatment failure of anal fistula plugs: higher hemoglobin level (=0.048); duration of anal fistula ≥6 months (=0.006); and longer distance between the external opening and the anal verge (=0.016).