Minimally invasive treatment of pilonidal sinus disease in a paediatric population: comparison of two techniques.

BACKGROUND

Pilonidal disease (PD) is a common and debilitating inflammatory condition with significant impact on quality of life. Minimally invasive techniques (MIT) have shown promising results comparing to traditional excision. Herein we present a comparison of two MIT techniques -sinusectomy (SE) and pit-picking plus laser ablation (PPL).

METHODS

All cases of paediatric PD treated by PPL and SE at our center between August 2018 and August 2020 were retrospectively reviewed.

RESULTS

One-hundred and six patients were included, with a median age of 16 years (IQR 15-16). PPL was the procedure of choice in 36 patients (34%) and the remaining underwent SE (66%). Median healing time was significantly lower in SE group (20 days), comparing to PPL (30 days) (p = 0.002). Early healing failure occurred more frequently in the PPL group (p = 0.003). Recurrence rate was similar between groups - PPL 17% versus SE 16% (p = 0.89). Overall complication rate was 9% and was significantly higher in PPL (p = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

MIT techniques are promising solutions in PD treatment. Although similarly easy and fast to perform, SE technique showed better healing profile and lower complication rate but no significant difference on recurrence rates was observed.