Comparison of Frequency of Successful Treatment after Sclerotherapy with 5% Phenol in Almond Oil (PAO) with Aluminum Potassium Sulfate and Tannic Acid (ALTA) for Grade-III Haemorrhoids

Abstract

Aim: To compare the frequency of successful treatment after sclerotherapy with 5% phenol in almond oil (PAO) and aluminum potassium sulfate and tannic acid (ALTA) for grade-III haemorrhoids. Design: The present study was an RCT (randomized controlled trial). Study Settings: This study was carried at Surgical Unit-I of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore over 6 months from August 2017 to January 2018. Methods: The present study included 32 patients of either gender with age in the range of 18-60 years presenting with grade-III haemorrhoids which were randomly alienated into two treatment groups. Patients in Group-A received sclerotherapy with PAO while those in Group-B received sclerotherapy with ALTA. Outcome variable was frequency of successful treatment which was labeled on absence of bleeding (≥2 weeks) and lack of prolapse on straining 4 weeks after the treatment. Frequency of successful treatment was compared between the groups. Results:- The mean age of the patients was 49.6±5.9 years. There was a male predominance with a male to female ratio of 1.7:1. Both the groups were similar in terms of mean age (p-value=0.84) and age (p-value=0.48) and gender (pvalue=0.47) groups distribution. The frequency of successful treatment was significantly higher in patients receiving ALTA (81.3% vs. 25.0%; p-value=0.001) as compared to PAO. Similar significant difference in the frequency of successful treatment was observed between the groups across various subgroups based on patient’s age and gender. Conclusion: Sclerotherapy with aluminum potassium sulphate and tannic acid (ALTA) was found superior to conventional practice of phenol in almond oil (PAO) in terms of significantly higher frequency of successful treatment in patients with grade-III haemorrhoids which advocate its preferred use among such patients in future practice.