ArticleAnnals of coloproctology2025
Ligation of the intersphincteric fistula tract (LIFT) for high transsphincteric fistulas: a double-center retrospective study with long-term follow-up.
Article in Annals of coloproctology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ligation of the intersphincteric fistula tractWorld journal of gastrointestinal surgery · 2026Article
- Risk factors for postoperative adverse outcomes in patients with high anal fistula undergoing modified TROPIS procedure combined with Parks' fistulotomy with seton: a retrospective study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeThis study aimed to evaluate the long-term efficacy of the ligation of the intersphincteric fistula tract (LIFT) procedure in treating high transsphincteric fistulas.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the success rate of LIFT treatment in 82 patients with high transsphincteric fistulas involving at least one-third of the external sphincter. This study was carried out across 2 centers from November 2009 to February 2023.
resultsAll patients underwent successful surgery with a median operative time of 48.9 minutes (range, 20-80 minutes), and no intraoperative or postoperative complications were reported. The median follow-up duration was 85.5 months (range, 4-120 months), with 5 patients (6.1%) lost to follow-up. Treatment was successful in 62 patients, whose symptoms disappeared and both the external opening and the intersphincteric incision completely healed, yielding an overall efficiency rate of 80.5%. There were 15 cases (19.5%) of treatment failure, including 6 (7.8%) that converted to intersphincteric anal fistula and 9 (11.7%) that experienced persistent or recurrent fistulas. Only 1 patient reported minor overflow during the postoperative follow-up, but no other patients reported any significant discomfort. There were no statistically significant differences between patients with surgical success and those with treatment failure in terms of fistula length, history of previous abscess or anal fistula surgery, number of external orifices or fistulas, and location of fistulas (all P>0.05).
conclusionsLIFT is a safe and effective sphincter-preserving procedure that yields satisfactory healing outcomes and has minimal impact on anal function.
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