Karydakis flap repair for sacrococcygeal pilonidal sinus disease: how important is technique?

Numerous operative and conservative treatments have been described in the published work for the management of sacrococcygeal pilonidal sinus; yet there remains considerable debate over its ideal treatment. This report is an audit of our results using the Karydakis flap repair in the management of this condition. We analysed prospective data on 70 patients who had had a Karydakis procedure. The length of follow up ranged from 1 to 79 months (median 36 months). Seventy-one operations were carried out in 70 patients. This included 12 patients (17%) who had previously undergone between one and four procedures (median 2) for recurrent disease. Superficial wound breakdown occurred in 27 patients (38%) and complete wound breakdown occurred in six patients (8.4%). These wounds were allowed to heal by secondary intent. The median time to complete healing for superficial and complete wound breakdown was 80 and 84 days, respectively. Disease recurrence occurred in three patients (4.2%) -- two of whom had recurrent disease at the time of this presentation. Of the three patients who had a recurrence after our surgery, two had a superficial breakdown and one had a complete wound breakdown. Sacrococcygeal pilonidal disease has a low recurrence rate when treated by the Karydakis operation involving flattening of the midline cleft. This procedure avoids the need for more complicated flap repairs.