The study was co-led by Marc Levitt, M.D., who launched the division of Pediatric Colorectal and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery at Children’s National Hospital in late 2019.

A prospective randomized controlled trial has given pediatric colorectal specialists the first evidence to reconsider a standard postoperative care practice: Routine anal dilations following a primary posterior sagittal anorectoplasty (PSARP), an operation to reconstruct a child born with imperforate anus. This treatment has been the standard of care following PSARP for more than thirty years and was believed to help prevent strictures after surgery for anorectal malformations (imperforate anus). However, it requires parents and caregivers to perform this uncomfortable procedure on their child daily, which can have a significant psychological impact on the child. Prior to this trial, a quality of life assessment found that postoperative dilations were the most stressful part of these patients’ care for both patient and parents.

“The PSARP procedure, performed for the first time in 1980, improves the lives of children born with imperforate anus by providing a safe and effective reconstruction technique,” says Marc Levitt, M.D., who led the study with co-author Richard Wood, M.D., of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, before joining Children’s National Hospital as chief of the division of Colorectal and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery. “We are thrilled to have evidence that one of the top postoperative challenges for parents – a twice daily anal dilation for several months after the surgery is completed – can potentially be eliminated for most kids with no impact on their recovery.”

“We also found that if a stricture, or scar, develops, which occurs in only about 10 percent of cases, it can easily be managed with a minor operative procedure done at the same time as colostomy closure, which in most cases they already need. So, if a family had to choose between daily dilations for months or a one in 10 risk of needing a minor surgical procedure, they can now make that choice and avoid routine dilations.”

The prospective single institution randomized controlled trial was conducted between 2017 and 2019 and included 49 patients. The abstract of the results was accepted for presentation at the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons Annual International Congress, 2020, and its manuscript is to be published.

“The clinical benefit of routine dilation had never been studied in a formal way, it had been accepted as surgical dogma. Our cohort, who underwent a randomized controlled trial, gave us the ability to look at this practice in an evidence-based way,” Dr. Levitt says. “Revising this practice could be a real game-changer for parents and kids with anorectal malformations.”