Clinical characteristics and conservative treatment of perineal groove
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In brief
In brief
Retrospective study of 26 pediatric patients with perineal groove, a rare congenital perineal anomaly predominantly affecting females. Conservative management showed excellent outcomes with 71% natural healing by age two, emphasizing the importance of accurate diagnosis to avoid unnecessary surgical intervention.
Written by the GCMD Library team from the article.
Purpose
Perineal groove is a rare congenital anomaly of the perineum, and only a few papers describing a small number of cases have been reported in the medical literature. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics and proper management of perineal groove.
Methods
We performed a retrospective review of 26 pediatric patients who were diagnosed with perineal groove between January 2012 and October 2018 at our institution.
Results
Perineal groove was extremely prevalent among the females: 25 of the 26 patients were girls, and only one patient was a boy. All the patients presented with an unusual lesion at the anus or perineum, but no symptoms related to this anomaly. The median age at the first visit to our clinic was 1.5 month (range, 0.3–11.4 month). Two types, complete and partial, were used to categorize the appearance of perineal groove. In a sample group, 55% (12/22) of the patients had complete perineal groove while 45% (10/22) had partial perineal groove. One patient underwent an anoplasty at another hospital following the diagnosis of an imperforate anus. One male and 13 female patients were followed beyond the age of two, and 10 patients (71%) showed a natural healing process.
Conclusion
Perineal groove manifested as two types of appearance and showed excellent results with conservative treatment in our study. A natural healing process can be expected in the long-term follow-up. Perineal groove must be differentiated from other defects to avoid unnecessary surgical treatment.
Levels of Evidence
Therapeutic Study, Level IV.