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What is a seton procedure for a anal fistual?

I am a T-8 incomplete Paraplegic
I have a fistual which I presume had derived from a anal abcess that has healed over.
I have had this anal fistual track for 2.5 months know.
The fistula seems to travel to the anal canal and stop.
Recently I have seen a colo-rectal surgeon who wants to further examine my wound under mild anastasia and most likely he'll want to put a seton in me/my fistula.
What exactly is a seton? Are there any side effects to this procedure?  Is this the best way of dealing with a anal fistula in view of my paralysis.

Any insight on this matter would be appreciated
Thank You
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Avatar universal
I had emergency surgery for a perianal cyst in April of 2000.  In August of 2000 I had to have fistula repair surgery.  They used the seton method.  Basically what it does is they insert a rubberband down there.  Not quite sure exactly where they go through but I will tell you that the surgery was much less painful then the emergency surgery 4 months before.  However, once they insert the seton (rubberband) you have to go to the colon/rectal surgeons office frequently (like once every week to 10 days) to have them tighten the rubberband up.  I won't lie to you, that is VERY PAINFUL.  Eventually the seton (rubberband) will fall out.  This means that it was successful in cutting through the muscle where the tunnel (fistula) had been created.   I believe it took about 5 weeks for my seton to fall out.  Very uncomfortable for a few days after each tightening.  They tried to compare the pain to having your braces tightened, but I never had braces so I never saw the humor in the comparison.  Best of luck to you.  : )
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Avatar universal
Hey there. I've had an anal fistula for about three months now. I first found out when I saw my doctor. She first gave me antibiotics for both airobic and anarobic types. This way they were sure to rid me of my illness. That hasn't worked yet. I still feel an enormous amount of pain around my anus. On Tuesday the sixth of November, I am having surgery the done. Hopefully that will rid me of this pain. When the surgery is over, I'll tell you how it went.
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Avatar universal
Hi. I had a fistula repaired surgically 11 days ago. I am not paralyzed so I can't speak from that standpoint. My fistula was the result of an perirectal abscess that was surgically drained in Nov. of last year. I had probably had it for about four months before seeing the doctor. When I had the abscess operated on, they had said it was going to take a long time to heal so when I first started having trouble with it, I didn't think anything about it. From what little I have read, surgery is about the only way to take of this. I remember a web page mentioning the Seton, but I can't remember exactly what was said. What they did with mine was my surgeon opened the tunneled area up again to allow it to heal properly. What happened with me was the incision on the outside healed, but did not heal inside. An excellent way to find out some information is go to yahoo.com search engine. Type in perirectal abscess or fisula in ano, and it gives you quite a few pages on the subject. I believe WebMD.com had some information too. Hope this helps.
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