Abstract

We present the case of a 29-year-old woman who attended a surgical outpatient clinic with symptoms of perianal fissure due to syphilitic infection. This uncommon aetiology of a common condition is often alluded to in textbooks, but little information exists in the scientific literature regarding the pathogenesis, presentation and treatment of fissure-in-ano secondary to syphilis. We present the case and an overview of the topic aimed at surgeons and clinicians who manage patients with perianal pathology. Syphilis is far from a disease of antiquity; in patients presenting with fissure-in-ano a thorough sexual history and sexually transmissible infection screening in at-risk groups may avoid mis-diagnosis, community transmission and unnecessary procedures.

Details

Title
Syphilis as an atypical cause of perianal fissure
Author
Cox, Daniel R A 1 ; Rao, Apoorva 1 ; Ee, Eric 1 

 General Surgery Department, Monash Health, Melbourne, Australia 
Publication year
2018
Publication date
Nov 2018
Publisher
Oxford University Press
e-ISSN
20428812
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3170668296
Copyright
Published by Oxford University Press and JSCR Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2018. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.