Solcoderm as alternative conservative treatment for acute anal fissure: a controlled clinical study.

Acute anal fissure is a common malady that results in morbidity. If a patient is not responsive to conservative treatment, the current recommended treatments are either anal dilatation or lateral internal sphincterotomy. Both operations promise relatively good results, but the recurrence rates are about 16 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively. This fact, together with possible postoperative complications and costs, justifies trying conservative treatment before referring patients for surgery. The authors treated a study group of 25 patients with a topical application of Solcoderm. Another group of 25 patients concurrently treated with the usual conservative treatment served as the control group. Analysis of the early and late results proved Solcoderm to be simple to use, safe, without systemic side effects, cost-effective, and with statistically significant better outcome. Consequently, the authors believe that this method of treatment is justified in cases of acute and fissure and should be attempted before operation.