Hemmorhoids

 

As the old Chinese saying goes, “9 out of 10 men have hemorrhoids.” However, the truth is, there are chances that you may have hemorrhoids irrespective of your gender. Despite medication treatment, for more severe cases, patients may receive conventional open hemorrhoidectomy or stapled hemorrhoidectomy for a resolution of their hemorrhoids.

Symptoms of hemorrhoids

  • Blood in stool: hemorrhoid bleeding appears fresh red in colour and the blood will not be mixed with stool. If the stool appears dark red or blood clots exist, a colonoscopy examination must be performed to rule out the possibility of colon cancer.

  • Protruding anus, with pain and itchiness

  • Normally hemorrhoids are not painful unless it caused by thrombosis in the anal vessels that results in acute hemorrhoids. This is where the protrusion is so extreme that the hemorrhoid cannot be repositioned into the anus, causing severe pain.

  • Patients may be anemic due to chronic blood loss

How to diagnose hemorrhoids?

Surgeons may either perform a clinical examination or a colonoscopy to determine whether a patient has hemorrhoids. Generally teenagers have a lower chance of having colon cancer. Therefore, they seldom require rectal or colonoscopy examinations. On the other hand, elderly patients with blood in their stool require colonoscopy as soon as possible to rule out the possibilities of other intestinal diseases (including colon cancer).

Treatment of hemorrhoids

Treatments can be classified into surgical and non-surgical means. Early stages of hemorrhoids are more suitable for non-surgical treatment, including taking oral medications, using topical medications, injections and lifestyle changes, such as increasing fiber intake to alleviate the condition. For patients with later stages of hemorrhoids, surgical resection such as conventional open hemorrhoidectomy and stapled hemorrhoidectomy is required.

Hemorrhoid surgery – conventional open hemorrhoidectomy

Conventional surgery is successful in treating hemmorhoids and has a low recurrence rate. Although the pain will last for a few days or even weeks after surgery, the chances of bleeding, incontinence and recurrence are lower.

Hemorrhoid surgery - stapled hemorrhoidectomy

Stapled hemorrhoidectomy is the use of the circular stapler to remove the loosened part of the hemorrhoid mucosal layer and staple the incision at the same time, so as to cut off the blood supply of the hemorrhoid and let it shrink eventually.

This is a minimally invasive procedure. Since the wound is located inside the rectum and does not touch the nerves, the pain involved would be much lower than conventional surgery. The pain will subside within a day. However, complications including infection, bleeding, or rectal constriction can causes problem in defecation and may require a further follow-up.

The information on this website is for general educational purpose only.
Readers should consult their physician before considering treatment, and should not interpret their condition solely based on the information above.