Endoscopic Pilonidal Sinus Treatment (EPSIT): Is a New Minimally Invasive Treatment in Pilonidal Sinus

Objective: To determine the outcome of endoscopic pilonidal sinus treatment (EPSIT): Is a new minimally invasive treatment in pilonidal sinus.

Study Design: This is a observational study.

Setting: Study carried out at General Surgery department, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Jamshoro, form March 2020 to Feb 2021.

Materials and Methods: Patients aged between 20-40 years, both gender having sinus in the cleft of the buttocks on clinical examination with associated symptoms like pain when sitting or standing, reddened, sore skin around the area, pus or blood draining from sinus, hair protruding from the lesion and formation of more than one sinus tract, or holes in the skin were included in this study. Patients with abscess and recurrent pilonidal sinus were excluded. Outcome measurements were postoperative pain, return to normal daily activities and complication rates including infection, recurrence.

Results: 44 patients with Pilonidal Sinus were included in this study. 15 to 40 years with mean age ± SD (range) was 26.56±4.1 years. 40(90.90%) were male where as 4(9.09%) were females. Mostly patients have single external openings in 37(84.09%) patients with midline opening location in 26(59.09%) patients. The mean operative time±SD (range) was 21.09±3.62 minutes (15 to 45 min). According to the visual analog scale (VAS) score for postoperative pain assessment after 48 hours of surgery, 36 patients (81.81%) reported a VAS between 1 to 3, and 8(18.18%) reported a score between 4 to 6. Postoperative wound infection was seen in one case 2.27% while recurrence was observed in two cases 4.54%. The overall healing rate was 93.18%. The mean time to return to normal daily activities was 6.1±11 (range, 2–15) days.

Conclusion: To conclude that the EPSiT is safe, effective, simple, repeatable and very welcomed by the patients if explained correctly. We can say that EPSiT can be labeled as a day surgery, with fast post-operative recovery and early return to work.