Dr. Nitish Jhawar General, Laparoscopic and Colorectal Surgeon at Fortis Hiranandani Hospital, Navi Mumbai, India recently attended a surgical workshop at Berlin (Germany )to understand and perform VAAFT – Video Assisted Anal Fistula Technique- better. This endoscopic treatment of fistula doesn’t have a risk of incontinence.
In today’s era of minimally invasive surgeries, emphasis on painless treatment and faster recovery without much dissection of the tissue is higher. Anal fistulas have been treated from the era of Hippocrates from 1600 DC. Everything starting from horse’s hair to laser has been tried to treat these nagging problem. The two main factors / fear in fistula surgery is recurrence and incontinence due to incomplete removal or excessive cutting of sphincter.
There are various surgical ways to treat fistula including removal of the fistula track completely. This is surely painful, requires daily dressing and also takes a lot of time to heal. Along with which there are higher chances of recurrence; whereas, VAAFT requires no incision, which helps patients to resume their daily lives with ease.
This endoscopic treatment offers a complete diagnosis of the fistulous tract in the form of fistuloscopy and since no cutting of the sphincter is involved, there is no risk of incontinence. The latest case studies are showing encouraging results in this particular modality. Tackling recurrence of the fistula with VAAFT is much easier option and acceptable to the patient because of its painless patient-friendly treatment.
On his visit to Berlin, Dr. Nitish Jhawar met Dr. Monreio, who is the inventor of this technique and have more than 10 centres all over the world.
Dr. Monreio takes pride in the efficacy of this treatment which is helping him treat patients all across the Globe. As per Dr. Jhawar –“ It was a wonderful experience to learn the Nitti gritty of the surgical challenges and their management from the inventor himself. VAAFT has clearly achieved a reputed place in ARMAMENTARIUM of fistula treatment modalities and is here to stay. I am aiming to continue his legacy of helping people with VAAFT and make it easier for the patients suffering from Anal Fistula.”
