Fistula Plug

[CrohnsNYC]

I had a seton placed about 4 months ago and it is not closing up my fistula. My surgeon today recommended placing a fistula plug in. She said that it is not guaranteed to work but we should try it. Anyone have this? Did it work/not work? What was recovery like? Can I go back to work the next day (I went back the day after my seton surgery)? These are such pesky little buggers - I hate them

Thanks!
Beth

 

[Bill41]

My surgeon will only do draining setons, I asked him about the plug and fibron glue methods, simply doesn't work in Crohns cases...

 

[beth]

Did for me. Seton for 6 months or so, then surgeon said if the tract is small enough he'll put a stitch in the internal opening and fill it with fibrin glue. It was, so he did, and much to his surprise it worked. No more trouble since (crosses fingers/etc).

 

[Cookie]

I did not have the plug, but I had the flap surgery which is also "not supposed to work". The flap surgery did not work the first time (failed after about a year) but so far so good on the second try (it's been 18 months). Even if it were to fail again, I would say the period of relief was worth it. Now I realize you can't just keep having surgery after surgery, but you never know if it will work if you don't try it, right? I would say that if your insurance is willing to pay for it, why not give it a try...

I can not speak for the plug, but the recovery time (off from work) was two weeks for my surgery and I needed every bit of it, especially the second time around. I would say I was back to 100% (exercising, etc.) after about a month. I should also add that I took large amounts of cipro and flagyl for a few months before the surgery to make sure that the area was clean, drained and free of infection. That's probably pretty important.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide.

 

[exit4]

I had a plug - did not work, got infected, was put on antibiotics and got C-diff. My doc did not put me on Flagyl prior to plug, that may have caused it to become infected and fail.