Chronic Anal Fissure: Common Aetiopathogenesis, with Special Attention to Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Sexual abuse is a significant aetiological factor of chronic anal fissures and it is to be suspected in cases of recurrence after anal sphincterotomy. For such cases, a multidisciplinary treatment is crucial to improve the prognosis of the disease. We recognise that the causality is difficult to prove and we cannot confirm that every sexually abused person could inevitably develop chronic anal fissure.