Anal Fistula
What is an anal fistula?
An anal fistula is a small tunnel that connects an abscess (an infected cavity or pocket of pus in the anus) to an opening on the skin around the anus. A fistula between the colon and the vagina can allow bacteria into the vagina. A fistula between the colon and the bladder can cause chronic urinary tract infections. A fistula between the colon and the skin can create external sores.
Just inside the anus are a number of small glands that make mucus. Occasionally, these glands get clogged and can become infected, leading to an abscess. About half of these abscesses may develop into an anal fistula.
The leading causes of an anal fistula are clogged anal glands and anal abscesses. Other, much less common conditions that cause an anal fistula include:
- Crohn’s disease (an inflammatory disease of the intestine — 25% of Crohn’s disease patients develop fistulas)
- Radiation (treatment for cancer)
- Trauma
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Tuberculosis
- Diverticulitis (a disease in which small pouches form in the large intestine and become inflamed)
- Colorectal cancer
What are the symptoms of an anal fistula?
- Frequent anal abscesses
- Pain and swelling around the anus
- Blood or foul-smelling drainage (pus) from an opening around the anus. (Pain may decrease after the fistula drains.)
- Irritation of the skin around the anus from drainage
- Pain with bowel movements
- Bleeding
- Fever, chills, and a general feeling of fatigue
How are fistulas treated?
Dr. Meyerson will do a sigmoidoscopy to look in your anus with a flexible lighted tube called a sigmoidoscope to determine if you have an anal fistula tract in the skin. He will determine how deep it is, and the direction in which it is going.