SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Surg.

Sec. Pediatric Surgery

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1572049

This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances and Challenges in Neonatal Surgery: Congenital and Acquired ConditionsView all 9 articles

Treatment of perianal abscess and anal fistula in infants: A systematic review

Provisionally accepted
Jinlan  ChenJinlan Chen1yi  xiongyi xiong2cong  wangcong wang2li  xuli xu2*
  • 1First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China
  • 2Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Introduction: The optimal treatment approach for perianal abscess (PA) and fistula-inano (FIA) in infants remains a subject of debate.Material and Methods A thorough literature search was conducted across multiple databases, including Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar.Results A total of eighteen retrospective studies, encompassing 1,770 patients, were analyzed. Of the 702 cases (38.7%) that underwent conservative treatment, 528 cases (75.2%) achieved a cure, while 174 cases (24.8%) were unsuccessful, with 93 experiencing PA recurrence and 81 developing FIA. In contrast, among the 1,068 cases (61.3%) that received surgical interventions, 784 cases (73.4%) were cured, whereas 284 cases (26.6%) were not, with 151 experiencing PA recurrence and 133 developing FIA.The available studies indicate minimal differences in the cure and recurrence rates of PA and FIA between the conservative and surgical treatment groups.

Keywords: infants, Perianal abscess, Fistula-in-ano, conservative treatment, surgical treatment

Received: 06 Feb 2025; Accepted: 16 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Chen, xiong, wang and xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: li xu, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, Zhejiang Province, China

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