Background: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new procedure for the treatment of anal fistula. This preliminary study was designed to investigate the safety and effectiveness of this new technique in the treatment of anal fistula.
Methods: Ten patients were treated with PDT. Intralesional 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) 2% was directly injected into the fistula. The internal and external orifices were closed. After an incubation period of 2 h, the fistula was irradiated using an optical fibre connected to a red laser (MULTIDIODE 630 PDT, INTERmedic, Spain) operating at 1 W/cm for 3 min (180 Joules). Patient demographics, operation notes and complications were recorded.
Results: There were no complications. The average length of patient follow-up was 14.9 months (range 12-20 months). We could observe primary healing in eight patients (80%). Two patients (20%) showed persistence of suppuration after the operation. No patient reported incontinence postoperatively.
Conclusions: PDT is a potential sphincter-saving procedure that is safe, simple and minimally invasive and has a high success rate.
Keywords: Aminolevulinic acid; Anal fistula; Photodynamic therapy.