Interesting facts from history about Haemorrhoids, commonly called Piles ? a disease that affects a fairly large population ? and modern surgical techniques to correct the condition were presented at the Woodlands Hospital auditorium recently by Dr Pinaki Banerjee, chief, General & Laparoscopic Surgery, as the hospital resumed its CME (Continuing Medical Education) sessions after a year-and-a-half-long lap owing to the pandemic.

Dr Banerjee took the audience comprising 60 doctors and nurses of the hospital through the common procedures to treat Piles, like banding and excision before going on to explain a comparatively new technique ? Stapled Anopexy ? which is an operation to return the haemorrhoids to a normal position inside the rectum, for which a circular stapling device is gently introduced in the back passage. The procedure is less painful than the traditional surgeries and patients tend to return to work much earlier.

The audience was taken aback when Dr Banerjee related that Piles used to a be a fashionable disease in Europe back in the day because it meant one was well-to-do and could have good food. Some scholars believe Napolean suffered from a painful bout of haemorrhoids and could not ride his horse on the morning of the Battle of Waterloo, leading to the French loss and also beginning the end of Piles being fashionable, Dr Banerjee said.