Information on Anal Fistulas and Fissures

Anal fistulas and fissures are a painful growth near the genitals. A fistula is an abnormal development from one cavity to another or from a hollow body cavity to the surface. The fistula can be a result of a penetrating wound like from the skin to lung, or it may be congenital like from bladder to navel or it may have formed from an ulcer or an abscess like tooth socket to sinus or appendix abscess to vagina.

When the wounds or abscesses keep getting filled by the fluids of the body cavity, it slows down and prevents healing and develops the formation of a fistula. For instance, the growth of an anal fistula can start with the inflammation of the mucus lining of the rectum. As it is constantly infected by feces, the area develops abscesses; a fistula breaks out gradually on the skin near the anus. Generally, the treatment includes an operation to drain the abscess by opening the fistula channel by operating on it so that there is no chance of recurrence.

On the other hand, anal fissures are the tears in the mucus lining of the anal canal which occur due to the passage of hard stools. Fissures become very painful with bowel movements and one may bleed with the passage of stools. The anus is the ring-like sphincter or valve at the end of the rectum and it relaxes and tightens to allow a bowel movement. The rim of this anus can have a tear, which will be called anal fissure. With every bowel movement, the anus will be stretched and fissure will be reopened causing delay in healing and manifestation of more symptoms and make the fissures chronic and a considerable misery.

Anal fissures and anal fistula are often interchanged and confused. While a fissure is a tear or crack in the anal canal, fistula develops from abscesses in the same area. Fistula is more like a tunnel between the rectum and other parts of the body, like the rectum and the vagina which can be called a recto-vaginal fistula or between the anal canal and the nearby skin.

Anal fissures mostly heal if constipation is avoided. Healing can be hastened with simple measures like stool softeners and other ointments. Steroid preparations, prescription medicines and variety of analgesics may also be used. Top medical news report that the same medication used for chest pain (angina), can be used as a treatment option for anal fissures. This medication works in such a way that the smooth muscle lining below the torn mucus layer of the anus relaxes and treating the spasm of this smooth muscle heals about 85% of the fissure. If this medication does not work, a simple outpatient surgical technique called lateral internal sphincterotomy can be used.

Anal fistula is also known as fistula-in-ano and it is an abnormal link between the interior of the anal canal or rectum and the skin surface.

 

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A team of scientists led by Dr Lukas Van Oudenhove from the University of Leuven, in Belgium, used MRI scans to assess the emotional impact of fat when injected into the stomach.
They recruited 12 healthy-weight volunteers and scanned their brainwaves as they were shown a series of sad and neutral images as well as exposing them to sad and neutral music.

 

They then inserted either fatty acids or saline into their stomachs but didn't tell the volunteers which was which. This meant they could bypass the effects of sensory stimulation as well as any associations to childhood foods.
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The researchers said their findings could have important implications for people with obesity, eating disorders and depression.
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Dr Giovanni Cizza, of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, who co-authored an accompanying editorial: 'We did not know if you put fat in the stomach without pleasant stimulus, it could modulate our emotions,' he says.
'There must be a way in which the gut talks to the brain.'

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The most widely prescribed antidepressants – known as SSRIs – are more likely to cause death and heart attacks, strokes, falls and seizures than the older tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), they found.
Researchers from the universities of Nottingham and East Anglia say tricyclics may be the safest class of antidepressants for older people, partly because they are prescribed in lower doses which are just as effective.

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A super-salmonella bug that cannot be treated by any drug is on the rise in Britain, scientists warn.
They think the strain originated in Egypt and is now being spread across Europe by contaminated fruit, vegetables and spices.
So far at least 200 Britons have been infected with the bug know as Salmonella Kentucky since 2000.

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