Use of laser technologies in the treatment of hemorrhoids (Literature review)

Abstract

Hemorrhoids are one of the most common diseases of the anorectal region, representing a serious medical and socio-economic problem that significantly affects the quality of life of patients. Surgical treatment of this pathology is necessary in cases where the patient complains of bleeding and prolapse of internal hemorrhoids, which cannot be treated with conservative methods. Traditional methods of surgical treatment of this pathology, despite their effectiveness, have a number of significant disadvantages, such as severe pain after surgery, prolonged healing of anal canal wounds, a long period of incapacity for work, as well as possible complications in the form of strictures of the anal canal, insufficiency of the rectal obturator, and anal fistulas. Recently, due to the active development of medical technology in the surgical treatment of hemorrhoids, many new minimally invasive treatment methods have appeared, including the use of lasers with different wavelengths, which have demonstrated high efficiency along with such advantages as reducing the intensity of postoperative pain syndrome, decreasing the frequency of intraoperative and early postoperative complications, as well as the possibility of outpatient implementation of these techniques. Depending on the stage of hemorrhoidal disease, as well as the type of laser radiation, various methods that affect one or both (vascular and mechanical) links in the pathogenesis of the disease are used. This article provides a review of modern literature data and analyzes the experience of using various lasers in the treatment of hemorrhoidal disease.