Anal sphincterotomy is a surgical procedure that involves treating mucosal fissures from the anal canal/
sphincter
A sphincter is a circular muscle that normally maintains constriction of a natural body passage or orifice and relaxes as required by normal physiological functioning. Sphincters are found in many animals. There are over 60 types in the human bo ...
. The word is formed from sphincter + otomy (to cut, to separate).
Procedure
# The surgery can be performed under any kind of
anesthesia
Anesthesia (American English) or anaesthesia (British English) is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prev ...
.
# After anesthesia is administered, the area is cleaned with an
antiseptic
An antiseptic ( and ) is an antimicrobial substance or compound that is applied to living tissue to reduce the possibility of sepsis, infection, or putrefaction. Antiseptics are generally distinguished from ''antibiotics'' by the latter's abil ...
solution.
# The sphincter is separated either by simply stretching or cutting. Cutting the muscle prevents spasm and temporarily weakens the muscles. Both methods help the underlying area to heal.
# Remove the fissure and any underlying
scar tissue.
# Suture back the wound.
See also
*
Lateral internal sphincterotomy
*
List of surgeries by type
Many Surgery, surgical procedure names can be broken into parts to indicate the meaning. For example, in gastrectomy, "ectomy" is a suffix (linguistics), suffix meaning the removal of a part of the body. "Gastro-" means stomach. Thus, ''gastrectom ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anal Sphincterotomy
Digestive system surgery