New drug promises relief to patients with hemorrhoids

The China Hemorrhoid Diagnosis and Treatment Guideline (2020), released Saturday, included French pharmaceutical company Servier's Citrus Bioflavonoids (micronized purifies flavonoids) as a treatment to relieve the symptoms of bleeding, pain, itching, tenesmus, etc, and to reduce recurrence.

The drug is also applicable for pregnant or post-pregnant women with hemorrhoids for short-term use.

The company said the medicine has benefited 23 million people with venous inflammation in many countries over the past 50 years.

The guideline, authored by Ren Donglin, director of Department of Integrative Medicine Anorectal Surgery and director of Pelvic Floor Center at the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, and compiled by more than 20 experts from anorectal departments across the country, included diagnosis, treatment and prognostic standards of hemorrhoid disease, so as to guide the clinical work and provide a reference for standard treatment of patients.

Over the past 15 years, triggered by a fast-paced modern lifestyle and unhealthy diet and rest habits, hemorrhoids have become one of the most common diseases clinically.

In China, the prevalence of anorectal disease has increased to 50.1 percent, much higher than the prevalence of other common diseases, and 98.09 percent of the patients have symptoms of hemorrhoids, according to Ren.

Hemorrhoids not only cause symptoms such as bleeding, pain, itching and tenesmus, but also lead to obesity and hematochezia, which seriously endanger people's health.

In recent years, with the rapid development of disease awareness and diagnostic approaches, the widespread use of oral medication and other treatment modalities has improved the effect of hemorrhoids treatment, significantly relieving symptoms and reducing recurrence.