Safety of surgical treatment of hemorrhoids in elderly patients

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes following surgical treatment of hemorrhoids between elderly (≥60 years old) and young patients (<60 years old).

Methods: A total of 365 patients who underwent surgical procedures for the treatment of third or fourth degree hemorrhoids between January 01, 2009 and January 31, 2014 were retrospectively screened.

Results: Among the 365 participants, 316 and 49 patients were younger and older than 60 years of age, respectively. No statistically significant differences with regard to the gender, operative duration, hospitalization time, incapacity to work, hemoglobin levels at admission or discharge, number of hemorrhoid packages, presence of thrombosis prior to the surgery, reoperation requirement, or the number of patients complaining of long-term pain were observed between the groups. Moreover, there was no statistically significant difference in the rate of early or late postoperative complications between the groups.

Conclusions: In conclusion, we found that the surgical treatment of hemorrhoids is equally safe in the younger and elderly patients. Therefore, surgeons can be confident in performing surgical treatment of hemorrhoids in elderly patients.