Clinical Research Directory

Comparing Minimally Invasive Treatments for Pilonidal Disease: LA POPA Trial (Laser And Pit-picking OR Pit-picking Alone)

The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to establish the efficacy of 'pit picking with laser therapy' versus 'pit picking alone' on both short and long-term outcomes in patients of 12 years and older with primary pilonidal sinus disease. The main questions it aims to answer are: * The overall success rate of treatment which is defined as: closure of all pits at 12 months of follow-up. * Secondary endpoints: succes rat eof treatment during long-term follow-up, wound closure time, pain scores, complication rate, work rehabilitation, time to return to daily activities, quality of life, persisting complaints, patient satisfaction, costs and the need for secondary or revision surgery. Participants will allocated to pit picking alone or combined with lasertherapy. The extra burden for participating patients is expected to be minimal to moderate. Participants will have two extra hospital visits in casethey are enrolled in our study: 6 and 12 months after enrolment. Postoperatively the normal scheme of follow up appointments wil be used: 2 and 6 weeks after treatment at the outpatient clinic of the treating surgeon. A telephone appointment with the researcher will be scheduled 4 weeks after treatment. Patients are asked to complete questionnaires at various time points, which will be sentto them by email and will take approximately 5-10 minutes each time. The content includes general and disease specific Quality of Life (QoL) questionnaires. The investigators do not expect any extra adverse reactions or events in respect to participation in the study because both procedures are considered standard of care in the participating clinics. However, because both interventions are surgical procedures a small percentage of adverse events or postoperative complications can be expected.

MIPE for Pilonidal Disease

Pilonidal disease often presents as a chronic, relapsing condition. A variety of procedures are used in the management of pilonidal disease, with varying degrees of morbidity, disease-free interval, and long-term success. In patients with new-onset or recurrent pilonidal disease, the investigators aim to address how minimally invasive trephine excision compares to other surgical procedures in terms of short- and long-term clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction. In the absence of a gold standard surgical procedure, surgeon preference will help dictate the management of pilonidal disease. For many surgeons, this means a variation on open excision for pilonidal disease failing conservative management. However, outcomes for minimally invasive pilonidal excision (MIPE) as initially described by Gips and forthcoming Lipskar et al., are likely to alter management of the disease (Gips, 2008). The investigators wish to assess patient and surgeon satisfaction with MIPE, and short-term outcomes.