Sucralfate ointment reduces pain and improves healing following haemorrhoidectomy: a prospective, randomized, controlled and double-blinded study

Background It has been clinically observed that posthaemorrhoidectomy pain is the most feared symptom by the patient, often leading to avoiding surgery altogether. Opioids and NSAIDs are used to control posthaemorrhoidectomy pain, but they have short duration of action and well-known side effects and may be expensive. These factors justify the need to search for new treatments to decrease posthaemorrhoidectomy pain. Patients and methods A total of 90 patients who had undergone surgery for third-degree and fourth-degree haemorrhoids were included in this prospective, randomized, controlled and double-blinded study. The patients were randomly assigned to two groups. Group A received topical sucralfate in petrolatum base and group B received plain petrolatum base. Patients were evaluated at days 1, 7 and 14 for the severity of pain (using the visual analogue pain scale) and for the amount of analgesia used. On day 28 patients were evaluated for wound healing. Results Patients in the sucralfate group suffered significantly less pain and required less analgesics (narcotic and nonsteroidal) on days 1, 7 and 14 postoperatively ( P P Conclusion Topical sucralfate ointment significantly decreases pain at days 1, 7 and 14 after haemorrhoidectomy and significantly accelerates wound healing.