Anal fissures are tiny, oval-shaped tears in the lining of the very end of your digestive tract called your anus. The symptoms are similar to those of hemorrhoids, such as bleeding and pain after moving your bowels. Straining and hard bowel movements can cause fissures, but so can soft stools and diarrhea.
A high-fiber diet that makes your stool well formed and bulky is often the best treatment for this common digestive condition. Medications to relax the anal sphincter muscles as well as topical anesthetics and sitz baths can relieve pain; however, chronic fissures may require surgery of the anal sphincter muscle.

Patients with cancers of the base of tongue, tonsils, soft palate and pharynx who underwent TransOral Robotic Surgery, or TORS, as the first line of treatment experienced an average three-year survival from time of diagnosis.

Most notably, the study’s preliminary results reveal oropharyngeal cancer patients who are p16 negative — a marker for the human papilloma virus, or HPV, that affects how well cancer will respond to treatment — have good outcomes with TORS in combination with radiation and/or chemotherapy.

“For non-surgical patients, several studies have shown that p16 positive throat cancers, or HPV- related throat cancers, have better survival and less recurrence than p16 negative throat cancers,” says study lead author Tamer Ghanem, M.D., Ph.D., director of Head and Neck Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery Division in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Henry Ford Hospital.

“Within our study, patients treated with robotic surgery had excellent results and survival, irrespective of their p16 status.”

 

Crohn’s Disease
Crohn’s disease is part of a group of digestive conditions called inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Crohn’s most commonly affects the end of the small intestine called the ileum, but it can affect any part of the digestive tract. As many as 700,000 Americans may be affected by Crohn’s, according to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.

This chronic condition is an autoimmune disease, meaning that your immune system mistakenly attacks cells in your own body that it thinks are foreign invaders. The most common Crohn’s symptoms are abdominal pain, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, weight loss, and fever. “Treatment depends on the symptoms and can include topical pain relievers, immunosuppressants, and surgery,” Dr. Bamji says.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend! DSA surgeons will be on call this weekend at Sunrise Hospital