ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION Minimal Surgery for Pilonidal Disease Using Trephines: Description of a New Technique and Long-Term Outcomes in 1,358 Patients

PURPOSE: This study describes and reports the results of a new, minimally-invasive surgical technique for pilonidal disease. METHODS: From March 1993 to January 2003, 1,358 patients (out of a total of 1,435 patients) with symptomatic pilonidal disease underwent treatment in a military surgical clinic dedicated for pilonidal disease. Patients were operated on under local anesthesia, utilizing trephines to excise pilonidal pits and to debride underlying cavities and tracts. RESULTS: One thousand three hundred fifty-eight symptomatic patients participated in the study and were mostly male (84.3 percent) and the mean age 20.9±3.6 years. Rates of postoperative infection, secondary bleeding, and early failure were 1.5, 0.2, and 4.4 percent, respectively. In patients with full postoperative clinical attendance, complete healing was observed within 3.4±1.9 weeks. Phone interview included 1,165 patients (85.8 percent) with a mean follow-up interval of 6.9±1.8 years. Recurrence rates after 1 year was 6.5 percent, 5 years was 13.2 percent, and 10 years was 16.2 percent. Mean time to recurrence was 2.7±2.6 years postoperatively. The disease-free probability estimate was 93.5 percent at one year and 86.5 percent at 5 years.