RESUMO
A prospective study to assess the short and long term results following maximal anal dilatation for treatment of haemorrhoids was carried out in King Abdulaziz university hospital, Jeddah. A regular regimen of using anal dilators after maximal dilatation was not used in this study. The series comprised 522 patients treated over a period of 5 years between January 1980 and January 1985. Follow-up at 6 months was available in 470 patients; 57% were cured, 32% improved, 6% unchanged, 2% were worse and 3% had further treatment. Follow-up at 4 or more years was available in 107 patients: 51% were cured, 26% improved, 9% unchanged, 5% were worse and 9% had further treatment. The outcome at 6 months and 4 years was good in most of the patients and comparable with that obtained by other surgical procedures for treatment of haemorrhoids. This indicates that anal dilatation is a satisfactory procedure for treatment of haemorrhoids in our patients. The results are also comparable with those from other anal dilatation studies and indicate that our abandoning the use of anal dilators after maximal dilatation does not seem to have influenced the results