1254 Radiofrequency Ablation for Treatment of Hemorrhoid Disease, Minimally Invasive Novel Treatment

Aim To describe our radiofrequency ablation(RFA) result, assessing patient symptoms and quality of life (QoL) before and after the intervention. We aim to evaluate the outcomes of this alternative procedure for managing grade 2-3 haemorrhoids at a single centre. Haemorrhoids are the most common surgical presentations, affecting up to 1 in 3 people. An alternative procedure is the use of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) to shrink and treat the haemorrhoids under local anaesthetic. The management is dependent on the severity of symptoms and the grade of haemorrhoids. Method A single centre retrospective study between March 2022 and July 2023 of patients who had RAFAELO under local anaesthetic without sedation for the treatment of grade 2-3 haemorrhoids. Primary outcomes were assessed by haemorrhoid severity score (HSS) and EQ-5D-5L VAS score before and after the procedure at 2-4 months and 12 months. Results 53 patients were included for analysis. The mean age of patients was 55 years old (SD+/-14) with a 2:3 ratio of female to male. 14% of patients had grade 2 haemorrhoids and 86% had grade 3 Hemorrhoids. The mean HSS score pre-op was 13.78 which improved to mean post-op score of 5.6. The mean EQ-5D-5L VAS pre-op score was 64.75 which decreased to mean post-op of 28.49. Conclusions This study supports that RAFAELO is a safe and effective procedure and can be performed in the outpatient setting. However, further studies with larger samples, longer follow-up and comparison with other procedures are still required.