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Abstract Background Hemorrhoids are the most common disease of anal canal affecting a large number of people at least once during their lifetime and can interfere with their daily functioning. Surgical treatment is the best available option for symptomatic hemorrhoid cases, which are refractory to medical treatment. In spite of many modifications made to the hemorrhoid surgical techniques, postoperative pain and discomfort remain the major concern for patients, which is why they often refuse to undergo surgical treatment. Laser ablation has opened new possibilities for the minimally invasive treatment of hemorrhoids. Objective To compare the outcomes between laser hemorrhoidoplasty and the conventional Milligan-Morgan hemorrhoidectomy for treatment of third and fourth degree haemorrhoids especially postoperative pain, bleeding, and recurrence. Patients and Methods Recent studies have proven that laser ablation was much better regarding postoperative pain and hemorrhage in the various degrees of hemorrhoids. Our study also confirmed that laser ablation technique has shorter operative time, less severe postoperative pain, bleeding and comparable regression of hemorrhoid columns. Studies with longer follow-up period (around 2 years) have also reported effectiveness of laser for the treatment of hemorrhoids which was confirmed in our study over 6 months. Results Although some studies showed that wound inflammation or hemorrhoid thrombosis could be a problem however our study showed no postoperative local infection in the group treated with laser ablation and only two patients were presented with thrombosis of external hemorrhoid 7–10 days after the surgery, which was resolved with medical treatment. Conclusion Laser hemorroidoplasty has better outcomes than the traditional surgical resection of hemorrhoid disease for the control of grade III and IV symptomatic refractory hemorrhoids specially regarding post-operative pain and bleeding which are the main concerns for most patients.
Amer et al. (Sat,) studied this question.