Background
Pilonidal sinus arises in the hair follicles in the buttock cleft. The estimated incidence is 26 per 100,000, people, affecting men twice as often as women. These chronic discharging wounds cause pain and impact upon quality of life. Surgical strategies centre on excision of the sinus tracts followed by primary closure and healing by primary intention or leaving the wound open to heal by secondary intention. There is uncertainty as to whether open or closed surgical management is more effective.
Objectives
To determine the relative effects of open compared with closed surgical treatment for pilonidal sinus on the outcomes of time to healing, infection and recurrence rate.
Search strategy
For this first update we searched the Wounds Group Specialised Register (24/9/09); The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) - The Cochrane Library Issue 3 2009; Ovid MEDLINE (1950 - September Week 3, 2009); Ovid MEDLINE(R) In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations (September 24, 2009); Ovid EMBASE (1980 - 2009 Week 38); EBSCO CINAHL (1982 - September Week 3, 2009).
Selection criteria
All randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing open with closed surgical treatment for pilonidal sinus. Exclusion criteria were: non-RCTs; children aged younger than 14 years and studies of pilonidal abscess.
Data collection and analysis
Data extraction and risk of bias assessment were conducted independently by three review authors (AA/IM/JB). Mean differences were used for continuous outcomes and relative risks with 95% confidence intervals for dichotomous outcomes.
Main results
For this update, 8 additional trials were identified giving a total of 26 included studies (n=2530). 17 studies compared open wound healing with surgical closure. Healing times were faster after surgical closure compared with open healing. Surgical site infection (SSI) rates did not differ between treatments; recurrence rates were lower in open healing than with primary closure (RR 0.60, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.87). Six studies compared surgical midline with off-midline closure. Healing times were faster after off-midline closure (MD 5.4 days, 95% CI 2.3 to 8.5). SSI rates were higher after midline closure (RR 3.72, 95% CI 1.86 to 7.42) and recurrence rates were higher after midline closure (Peto OR 4.54, 95% CI 2.30 to 8.96).
Authors' conclusions
No clear benefit was shown for open healing over surgical closure. A clear benefit was shown in favour of off-midline rather than midline wound closure. When closure of pilonidal sinuses is the desired surgical option, off-midline closure should be the standard management.

Healing by primary versus secondary intention after surgical treatment for pilonidal sinus

Management of pilonidal sinus is frequently unsatisfactory No method satisfies all requirements for the ideal treatment--quick healing, no hospital admission, minimal patient inconvenience, and low recurrence--but greater awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of existing methods would lead to improved management Early excision of the pilonidal pit at the time of treatment of pilonidal abscess reduces the high (40 per cent) risk of subsequent sinus Treatments for pilonidal sinus that flatten the natal cleft halve the risk of recurrence En block excision of pilonidal sinus with secondary healing should be abandoned and emphasis given to development of treatments, such as primary asymmetric closure, which have more potential Some treatments are operator-dependent and, to achieve the best results, junior surgeons must be correctly trained and supervised Future treatment studies must be prospective and randomized, and should compare healing time, recurrence rates beyond 3 years, nurse and hospital visits, patient inconvenience and loss of income

Pilonidal sinus: finding the right track for treatment.

Sacrococcygeal pilonidal disease is a common and well recognized entity. For many years the cause of sacrococcygeal pilonidal sinus has been matter of debate. When the treatment is considered, there was a frequent lack of succes of the surgical methods of excision regarding morbidity, healing, recurrence and cure. All these factors rendered the acquired thesis of pilonidal sinus disease to be more accepted. In dealing with the pathogenesis of pilonidal sinus disease, Karydakis attributed the hair insertion process to three main factors: the invader, i.e. the loose hair; the force, which causes the insertion; and the vulnerability of the skin to the insertion of hair at the depth of the natal cleft. The sinus is initiated from a small midline opening lined by stratified squamous epithelium. Additional sinuses are frequent and have lateral openings. Malignant transformation is rare but cases of squamous cell carcinoma and verrucous carcinoma have been reported. Pilonidal sinus disease consists in a symptoms complex with presentations ranging from asymptomatic pits to painful draining lesions that are predominantly located in the sacrococcygeal region. Asymptomatic pits do not require treatment. Options for treatment of acute abscess include aspiration, drainage without curettage, and drainage with curettage. The choice of a particular surgical approach depends on the surgeon's familiarity with the procedure and perceived result in terms of low recurrence of sinus and a quick healing of resulting cavity or surgical wound. Conservative nonoperative management, closed methods, laying of track, wide excision and open drainage, wide excision and primary closure, and limited excision are the methods currently used. From the profusion of studies, it is apparent that various methods are being tried and no one method is universally acceptable. Recurrence rates vary with the technique, operator and length of follow-up. Primary closure with a lateral approach appears to give the best results.

Sacrococcygeal pilonidal sinus: historical review, pathological insight and surgical options

Background:
This paper is one of a series of eight systematic reviews that aim to identify effective interventions for chronic wounds. Here, antimicrobial agents are evaluated.

Methods:
Electronic databases and other relevant sources were accessed to identify published and unpublished material. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they used concurrent controls, recruited participants with chronic wounds, evaluated an intervention designed to prevent or treat chronic wounds, and incorporated an objective assessment of wound healing. All included studies were assessed against a comprehensive checklist for methodological quality. A narrative overview was conducted.

Results:
Thirty trials were included, 25 of randomized design. Small sample size and other methodological problems meant that findings were often difficult to interpret. Results do not support the routine use of systemic antibiotics for leg ulcers or diabetic foot ulcers without acute infection, but they may be useful as an adjunct to surgery for pilonidal sinuses. Several topical preparations may be helpful, including dimethyl sulphoxide, silver sulphadiazine, benzoyl peroxide, oxyquinoline and gentamicin.

Conclusion:
Most of this research requires replication in larger, well designed studies to establish both clinical and cost effectiveness. © 2001 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd

Systematic review of antimicrobial agents used for chronic wounds

Failure of tetrachlorodecaoxygen anion complex to assist wound healing

The significance of staphylococcal infection has been studied prospectively in 250 wounds healing by open granulation. In a series of 50 axillary skin excisions, 17 became infected with Staphylococcus aureus with consequent pain and delay in healing. The infections responded well to Fucidin ointment. Nasal carriers of the organism may be especially liable to this complication. In contrast, although S. aureus was not infrequently found in deep granulating wounds, there was no clear evidence of harm resulting in the 50 laparotomy wounds and 150 pilonidal sinus excisions studied. The susceptibility of superficial wounds to the infection is ascribed to friction from dressings. Deep granulating wounds are occasionally affected similarly when the cavity has filled.

https://bjssjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/bjs.1800750336

Staphylococcal infection of open granulating wounds.

Staphylococcal infection of hidradenitis excisions.

A prospective study is reported of 100 pilonidal sinus excisions healing by open granulation. Delays in healing appeared to be due to infection, particularly by anaerobic bacteria. Comparisons are made between three groups studied consecutively - 30 wounds not treated with antibiotics, 20 given a fixed two-week course of metronidazole and 50 managed flexibly. In this last group, wound management was determined by clinical appearance; 24 wounds were clinically healthy throughout and received no antibiotic while 26 looked unhealthy initially or after an interval and were treated with metronidazole, supplemented in some cases with erythromycin. The best results were obtained in the group managed flexibly. It is considered that the problems of delayed healing are due to excisions which leave a wound of a shape ill-designed to maintain good drainage. Unhealthy wounds should be re-shaped if possible and treated early with a combination of metronidazole and erythromycin.

Pilonidal sinus excision--healing by open granulation.

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

J Marks

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

Staphylococcal infection of open granulating wounds.

Staphylococcal infection of hidradenitis excisions.

Pilonidal sinus excision--healing by open granulation.