Collagen treatment of complex anorectal fistula: 3 years follow-up.

Fistula in ano is a common anorectal disease in adults. Currently, surgery remains the definitive therapeutic approach, but in some cases, it can lead to serious complications as faecal or gas incontinence. Therefore, sphincter sparing treatments should be considered for complex fistulas. One of the sphincteric preserving treatment is the filling with a dermal extract commonly called "collagen glue" as Salvecoll-E® gel. This is a multicentric, prospective, observational study on the use of Salvecoll-E® gel in treatment of complex anal fistulas. We treated 70 patients from May 2016 to May 2017. In the first phase, we debrided the fistula tract using a loose seton kept for 4-6 weeks. In the second phase, the seton was removed and the fistula tract was filled with Salvecoll-E® gel. In this article, we report results at 36 months of follow-up. Fifty patients (71.4%) had completely healed fistula within 36 months of follow-up. Twenty-eight patients (28.2%) had recurrences. Among these failures, 65% were within 6 months. All low transphincteric fistulas healed. Recurrences occurred only in median and high transphincteric fistulas. No patient had a worsening of continence status measured with Cleveland Clinic Florida Incontinence Severity score. Salvecoll-E® gel is a recent finding among sphincter-sparing treatments. In this study, we demonstrate that it is a safe option in the treatment of complex fistulas. Final results are satisfactory and in line with the best results published in literature among mini-invasive treatments.

Molecularly targeted therapy and radiotherapy in the management of localized gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) of the rectum: a case report.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract. The main treatment for localized gastrointestinal stromal tumors is surgical resection. These tumors respond poorly to conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy agents and to radiotherapy. Imatinib mesylate, a small-molecule kinase inhibitor, has proved useful in the treatment of recurrent or metastatic GISTs and is now being tested in the adjuvant and neoadjuvant setting. The role of radiotherapy in the management of patients with GIST is currently restricted to symptomatic palliation. We present the case of a 54-year-old man affected by rectal GIST extending to the anal canal, with constipation, hematochezia, and anal pain. He received imatinib, 400 mg orally per day, for a week before and during radiation therapy. Irradiation was delivered to the gross tumor volume by 3D conformal therapy. The planned total dose was 50.4 Gy in fractions of 1.8 Gy daily. We observed a partial clinical response 3 weeks after the end of combination treatment. The patient then underwent a sphincter-saving surgical procedure. There was no perioperative morbidity and a complete pathological response was obtained. At the present time, the role of radiotherapy in the management of patients with GIST is restricted to symptomatic palliation. The introduction of molecularly targeted therapy combined with radiation therapy could improve the outcomes for patients diagnosed with GIST.