19th National Congress of the Italian Polyspecialist Society of Young Surgeons (IPSYS)

Pilonidal sinus is a common disease among young adults after the puberty while it is quite rare in subjects older than 40\udyears. The incidence in the third and fourth decade and the prevalence of\udthe disease in males, with a rate of 3:1 are probably related to androgen\udsecretion. In case of abscess most of the authors suggest a conservative\udapproach with incision and drainage under local anesthesia, delaying the\uddefinitive treatment by complete excision of the sinus. Nevertheless, surgical\udtreatment of the sinus has an high recurrence rate and as shown by\udthe several techniques proposed, choice primarily depends on the experience\udof the surgeon and on the consensus of the patient.\udMethods: From 1985 to 2004, 229 patients (171 M, 58 F) aged\udbetween 16 and 35 years, affected by pilonidal sinus were treated by\udcomplete excision of the sinus and primary closure.\udResults: Primary healing was achieved in 208 patients (91%)\udin an average time of 11.9 days. Secondary healing was achieved in\ud21 patients (9%) in 16–19 days. Mean postoperative hospital-stay was\ud1.9 days and average time off work was 16 days. Recurrent pilonidal\udsinus was observed in 10 patients with a mean follow-up of 30 months\ud(range 12–60).\udDiscussion: On the basis of their experience, the authors conclude\udthat complete excision of pilonidal sinus with primary closure\udprovides good results in terms of healing, morbidity, early return to\udwork and recurrence rate and can be considered the treatment of\udchoice of pilonidal sinus