Hemorrhoid Prevention Measures | Minneapolis & St Paul

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There are many ways to prevent the hemorrhoids for the patients in Minnesota.

One of the best ways to avoid hemorrhoids or a flare up is to avoid constipation by keeping your stools soft. Eating a diet that is high in fiber such as fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains are recommended. Taking a fiber supplement every day, such as Citrucel or Metamucil, can help keep bowel movements regular. Drinking enough fluids is equally as important so that your urine is light yellow or clear. Water is the best form of hydration.

Daily exercise is also great to help the bowel move through your digestive system and prevent you from becoming constipated. Moderate activity of at least 30 minutes 3-4 times per week is recommended.

Scheduling time each day for a bowel movement and keeping it a daily routine may help. Take your time and do not strain when having a bowel movement, because it is the straining that makes hemorrhoids worse or cause the rupture of varicose veins and thrombosis. Straining and holding your breath when trying to pass a stool creates greater pressure in the veins in the lower rectum.

Avoid frequent heavy lifting and obesity may reduce the chance of hemorrhoid development.

Lastly, once you feel the urge, it is important to go because if you wait to pass a bowel movement, the urge goes away and your stool could become dry and be harder to pass.

Treatment of the Thrombosed Hemorrhoid on the Road | Minneapolis & St Paul

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External hemorrhoids occur outside the anal verge. Thrombosed external hemorrhoids occur if varicose veins rupture and blood clots develop under skin. It is often accompanied by swelling with a bluish-purplish discoloration and severe incapacitating pain.

I have an interesting story that happened while I visited China many years ago. I was invited to give a lecture on office procedures as a guest professor in Zhejiang University, China. After the academic exchange, I had a few days to myself, so I went to visit an old friend of mine (let’s call him Dave). We decided to go visit a new resort town a few hours away from the city. As we were talking in the hotel, he was looking a bit shifty on the couch, as if he was very uncomfortable. I asked him if he was having a problem, and he said he had a lot of pain because of his hemorrhoids. Thankfully, this being an area of my specialty, I was able to diagnose him with having a thrombosed hemorrhoid that needed immediate treatment. I told him that a thrombosed external hemorrhoid is the common complication of hemorrhoids.

Dave said he would go to the hospital, but he hesitated to go because of inconvenient medical care in China. He didn’t trust the doctors in the local small hospital, and he was indecisive in choosing a larger hospital. I told him that I had fixed countless thrombosed hemorrhoids, and that if I had the tools I needed, I could fix it for him in a flash. I went to a local hospital in the town and identified myself, the medical staff believed that I was a general surgeon at Shanghai Medical University thirty years ago and that currently I practice in the US. I asked if I could get the necessary gear to do the procedure. Amazingly, the staff in the local hospital were very helpful and generous, and I managed to return with latex gloves, a scalpel, syringes, a pack of gauze, and a bottle of Lidocaine. I got him down on the bed and we did the procedure right there in the hotel.

The procedure took only a few minutes. I gave 0.5 cc Lidocaine to numb the top of the thrombosed hemorrhoid, then sliced open the hemorrhoid with a scalpel and removed the clotted blood with a cotton-tipped applicator. Once the clot was gone, I cleaned up the area by packing large amounts of gauze. The relief was immediate and other than a little bleeding for a day or so, the problem was gone. He was asked to do the Sitz bath three times a day and keep his stool soft.

I told Dave if he had the chance to visit Minneapolis, I can do IRC treatments to treat the root cause of problem – internal hemorrhoids.

Non-surgical Infrared Coagulation (IRC) for Hemorrhoid Treatment | Minneapolis and St Paul

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Since its introduction more than 20 years ago, infrared coagulation (IRC) has become the world’s leading office treatment for hemorrhoids. This non-surgical treatment is fast, well tolerated and remarkably complication-free. A small probe is placed on the hemorrhoid and a few short bursts of infrared light are applied. The infrared light quickly coagulates the vessels that provide the hemorrhoid with blood, causing the hemorrhoid to shrink and recede. Shrinkage of the hemorrhoidal tissue may take a few weeks. There may be a quick sensation of pain during the short burst of infrared light but overall the IRC treatments are very tolerable and painless. There are no post-treatment effects in 99% of patients. The IRC technology is very effective in treating grade 1 and grade 2 hemorrhoids. Patients return to a normal lifestyle right after the treatment on the same day. There may be slight spot bleeding a few days later and up to 2 weeks. Heavy straining or lifting should be avoided and aspirin should not be taken for a few days. A sensible diet, moderate exercise and proper bowel habits will help so no further hemorrhoids will form.

3 KEY BENEFITS OF INFRARED COAGULATION THERAPY FOR INTERNAL HEMORRHOIDS

Infrared coagulation is quick and near painless
Infrared coagulation can reduce or eliminate the hemorrhoid with a series of a few quick and near painless treatments using short bursts of hot light.

The primary benefits of infrared coagulation are the quick and near painless treatments. While a series of 3 or 4 treatments is normally required over a 2 month period to reduce hemorrhoid, the individual treatments only take a few minutes, and require no recovery time. This is a big perk compared to taking several days off for surgery and recovery, which can be required in the most severe cases.

Infrared coagulation is nonsurgical

While many people associate hemorrhoids with painful surgery, only a small percentage of patients actually require surgery. Hemorrhoidectomy is a surgical procedure to remove most severe hemorrhoids. Instead, infrared coagulation, or other nonsurgical treatments, can reduce or eliminate the source of a hemorrhoi. The treatment is performed right in the office with no anesthesia, incisions, or stitches.

Infrared coagulation is effective
Nonsurgical treatments are simple, quick and convenient, but they must also offer a certain level of effectiveness. To that end, infrared coagulation is up to 95% effective.
If you’d like to see how infrared coagulation can help you, give Procedure Clinic a call today at (952) 922-2151 to schedule a consultation. You can enjoy lasting relief from hemorrhoid pain!

Common Symptoms of Hemorrhoids | Minneapolis & St Paul

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Severe pain is not a common symptom of internal hemorrhoids, because internal hemorrhoid happens in the area above the dentate line that is supplied by the visceral nerve, like those found within the intestines, which sense pressure rather than pain. Many patients feel the irritating pain and pressure pain when their hemorrhoids flair up. Small percentage of hemorrhoid patients may develop spasmodic pain (proctalgia fugax) caused by spasms of anal sphincter muscles.

As the venous complex of an internal hemorrhoid becomes varicose and continues to enlarge, it bulges into the anal canal and loses its normal anchoring, becoming a prolapsing internal hemorrhoid. The prolapsing hemorrhoid usually returns into the anal canal or rectum on its own, or can be pushed back inside using one’s finger, but usually prolapses again after the next bowel movement. In the anal canal, a hemorrhoid is exposed to movement caused by passing stool, particularly hard stools that can cause bleeding and pain. The painless rectal bleeding with bright red blood is a common symptom of internal hemorrhoids. The rectal mucosal lining that has been pulled down secretes mucus and moistens the anus and its surrounding skin, while the stool itself can also leak onto the anal skin. Itchiness often occurs as a result of this dual presence of stool and moisture.

In general, symptoms of external hemorrhoids are different than those of internal hemorrhoids. External hemorrhoids can be felt as bulges at the anus, but rarely display any of the same symptoms seen with internal hemorrhoids. The patients with external hemorrhoids or anal tags often have the difficulty in cleansing after bowel movements because feces left in the folds of external hemorrhoids or tags causes irritation and itching. Some patients may develop severe and cyclic rectal itching (Pruritic Ani).

If the varicose vein complex ruptures, as blood clots occur and build up the pressure inside the lump. This condition, known as thrombosed external hemorrhoid, causes an extremely painful bluish anal lump and often requires medical attention. The somatic nerve in the anal canal (below the dentate line) can sense pain, this is why the patients feel significant pain when they develop thrombosed external hemorrhoids. Thrombosed hemorrhoids may heal with scarring and leave a tag of skin protruding from the anus. Occasionally, the tag turns out to be quite large, which can make anal hygiene (cleaning) difficult or irritate the anus.

Hemorrhoids 101 | Minnesota

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Believe it or not, everyone has had a normal hemorrhoidal tissue in their rectum and anus. It’s only when your hemorrhoidal veins enlarge and become varicose veins that they’re considered abnormal or diseased.

There are three types of hemorrhoids – internal, external, and mixed hemorrhoids that consist of both internal and external. External hemorrhoids are those that occur outside the anal verge and affect bowel cleansing after one’s bowel movement, causing skin irritation and itching. A thrombosed external hemorrhoid is usually very painful due to rupture of one’s varicose veins, which causes blood clots and is often accompanied with swelling and pain. These external hemorrhoids are typically treated with either an incision or removal of the clot, or with an external hemorrhoidectomy performed under local anesthesia.

Internal hemorrhoids are graded from I to IV based on the degree of prolapse. Grade I hemorrhoids bulge with defecation; grade II lesions also bulge with defecation, but then recede spontaneously. Grade III hemorrhoids require digital replacement after prolapsing, while grade IV hemorrhoids cannot be replaced once prolapsed. There are many treatment options for internal hemorrhoids that vary based on the severity of each case, including infrared coagulation, rubber band ligation and hemorrhoidectomy.

Infrared coagulation (IRC) is a fast and effective non-surgical solution for hemorrhoid treatment!

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A hemorrhoid is a common illness that numerous Minnesotans suffer from. Approximately three out of four people will develop hemorrhoids at some time in their lives. While many people associate hemorrhoid treatments with painful surgery, only a small percentage of hemorrhoid patients actually require hemorrhoidectomy. A fast and simple non-surgical office procedure has taken the fear out of hemorrhoid treatments. The majority of hemorrhoid patients are good candidates for non-surgical Infrared coagulation (IRC) treatments.

What is Infrared Coagulation (IRC)?
IRC is a FDA approved office procedure that uses infrared light to treat symptomatic internal hemorrhoids, and it takes just a couple of minutes for each treatment. IRC is a safe, fast, and effective solution for hemorrhoids. Therefore, IRC has quickly become the most widely used office procedure for hemorrhoid clinics and is preferred over other methods because it is fast, effective, well-tolerated by patients, and rarely has complications.

A small light probe contacts the area above the hemorrhoid complex under direct view, exposing the tissue to a burst of infrared light for about 1.5 second. This coagulates the veins above the hemorrhoid, causing it to shrink.
With IRC, hemorrhoid doctor can effectively coagulate the insensitive area right above the hemorrhoids and destroy these small veins. In this way, the sensitive and painful area is avoided, and IRC becomes a very tolerable treatment.

IRC offers major advantages to patients over previous hemorrhoid treatment methods:

• Fast, simple, and safe solution
• No anesthesia required
• No special preparation needed
• No recovery time after treatment
• Clinically proven results
• Covered by all major insurance companies

Who are the Best Candidates for Infrared Coagulation (IRC)?
Infrared coagulation can be used to treat the early stages of hemorrhoids, and it is most effective in grade 1-2 hemorrhoids.

How is Infrared Coagulation Procedure Performed?
Before IRC procedure is performed, Dr. Shu gently inserts the anoscope (a very short, 3-4 inch rigid metal tube), then uses a handheld device that creates an intense beam of infrared light to touch the mucosa above the hemorrhoids, exposing the hemorrhoid tissue to a quick pulse of infrared light. The heat from the infrared light burns 4-5 spots in the targeted area, coagulating the vein above the hemorrhoids.

The resulting scar tissue cuts off the blood supply to the hemorrhoid venous complex. This causes the hemorrhoid complex to shrink and die. It may take a few weeks for all the hemorrhoids to shrink completely. Moreover, the scar tissue acts to hold nearby hemorrhoid veins in place so they don’t bulge into the anal canal easily and become hemorrhoids as you age.

Each IRC treatment only takes a couple of minutes. You may need as many as four separate treatment sessions every two weeks to cover all the areas where hemorrhoids appear, but this depends on each individual case and how extensive your hemorrhoids are.

What is the Recovery Time of Infrared Coagulation Procedure?
After the IRC procedure, you may feel mild discomfort in the anus and the urge to have a bowel movement sometimes. You are able to resume normal everyday activities immediately afterward. Typically, there are no post-treatment effects. However, there may be slight spot bleeding a few days later, but heavy rectal bleeding is extremely rare. Avoid heavy straining, lifting, and aspirin. If you notice significant rectal bleeding, you should call your doctor’s office.

You may use Tylenol as needed and take a warm sitz bath daily to relieve discomfort. A stool softener, fiber, and water will help ease your bowel movement while you heal.

The Easy Hemorrhoid Care™ (EHC) – a New and Elevated level of Care Delivery System for Hemorrhoid Treatment | Minnesota

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One Stop Medical Center invites you to experience an elevated level of care for your hemorrhoid treatments, with Minnesota’s first ever Easy Hemorrhoid Care™ Experience.

For nearly 20 years, Dr.Steven Shu has been providing exceptional hemorrhoid care utilizing the state-of-the-art medical techniques and technology available. Now he and his team offer Easy Hemorrhoid Care™ , a new care delivery system for hemorrhoid treatment with minimal invasive procedures, including Infrared Coagulation (IRC), rubber band ligation, and modified hemorrhoidectomy. It is an efficient system that requires only one trip. We provide patients a new experience in hemorrhoid care, from procedure through recovery. These advancements reduce discomfort, time, decrease the chance of complication and reduce the total recovery time.

For the first time in Minnesota, a personalized approach to meet your specific hemorrhoid care requirements is now available! The Easy Hemorrhoid Care™ Experience has been designed to take the stress and worry out of your hemorrhoid treatment. This package provides the most comfortable and seamless hemorrhoid care experience possible, with enhanced, customized hemorrhoid care, saving you precious time in your busy schedule.

Benefits of the Easy Hemorrhoid Care™ (EHC)
In the standard hemorrhoid care, the patients with hemorrhoids require multiple office visits with Infrared Coagulation and/or rubber banding ligation for their internal hemorrhoid treatments, followed by external hemorrhoidectomy and/or excision of anal hemorrhoids. It is a long process, but it is usually covered by your medical insurance.

The Easy Hemorrhoid Care™ (EHC) is a specially designed hemorrhoid care delivery system that aims to shorten the whole process of hemorrhoid treatment, to reduce discomfort, the chance of complications, and total recovery time. Patients are given Botox during the procedure to relax anal sphincter muscles, reducing post procedural pain. It is an efficient system that requires only one trip where you receive premium medical care, but it is not covered by your insurance.

To learn more about our Easy Hemorrhoid Care™ Experience in One Stop Medical Center, please contact us by calling at 952-922-2151 or email at info@shuMD.com.

The Common Causes of Minor Rectal Bleeding | Minneapolis & St Paul

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Minor rectal bleeding is one of the common symptoms that the Minnesotan patients seek for the medical care. It refers to the passage of small amount of bright red and fresh blood from the rectum and anus, which may appear on the surface of stool, on the toilet paper or in the toilet bowl.

This blog mainly discusses on the conditions with minor rectal bleeding that occurs intermittently. Rectal bleeding can be caused by various conditions, but even the slightest amount of bleeding should be taken seriously. Common causes of minor bleeding are internal hemorrhoids, ruptured thrombosed external hemorrhoids, fissures, fistula, diverticulosis, colon cancer, colitis, and polyps. Patients of older age or with significant family history of bowel disease or cancer should consider further examination. In addition, patients who were previously treated for rectal bleeding but continued to experience bleeding must be further examined.

The source of minor rectal bleeding is determined by history, physical examination and endoscopies. In the initial office visit, your doctor may inspect the anus visually to look for anal warts, anal fissures, cancer or external hemorrhoids, and followed by the digital examination with a gloved, lubricated finger and then anoscopy to look for abnormalities and sources of bleeding in the lower rectum and anal canal. If indicated, your doctor may also perform endoscopies, either sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy.

Anoscopy is a rectal exam with a very short (3 to 4 inch) rigid metal tube to examine the lower rectum and anal canal, it is very useful when your doctor suspects hemorrhoids, anal fissures and other anorectal diseases.

A flexible sigmoidoscopy is to uses a short (24 inches) and flexible tube with a camera to examine the lower colon and rectum.

Colonoscopy is a test that examines the lining of the entire colon for abnormal growths, such as polyps or cancer. A long tube is passed into your bowel, and a light on the end allows the examiner to see the inside of the bowel. If anything abnormal is found, a small biopsy will be done, and polyps or growths can be removed.

The management of minor rectal bleeding mainly focuses on the treatments of the underlying diseases.

Treatment of External Thrombosed hemorrhoids | Minneapolis & St Paul

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External hemorrhoids occur outside the anal verge. Thrombosed external hemorrhoids occur if varicose veins rupture and blood clots develop. It is often accompanied by swelling with a bluish-purplish discoloration and severe incapacitating pain.

The symptoms may improve in some patients with conservative nonsurgical treatment – the anal care I coined includes stool softeners, increased dietary fiber, increased fluid intake, warm Sitz baths, and analgesia. For most patients, surgical excision is often more effective and efficient in treating thrombosed external hemorrhoids. Surgical excision is an office-based procedure performed under local anesthesia. This safe office procedure offers low complication and recurrence rates and high levels of patient satisfaction.

Procedure
After cleaning the anal area with an antiseptic, lidocaine with epinephrine is locally injected in the surgical area. The thrombosed hemorrhoid is unroofed by making an elliptical incision in the hemorrhoid, then the blood clots are removed, and the procedure is finished for a simple case. Simply draining the clot usually relieves the pain immediately, but it may not work well if multiple thromboses exist as it can also lead to recurrence, so it is better for patients with multiple thromboses to completely excise the thrombosed hemorrhoids. The external hemorrhoidectomy may be performed, then the hemorrhoidal tissue with blood clots is removed together, and the bleeding in the wound is stopped with a cautery. The wound in the anal area is covered with sterile gauze.

Postoperative Care
The patient will be instructed to do anal care measures, including warm Sitz baths three times a day for 15-30 minutes at a time. Acetaminophen or ibuprofen should be used for pain control. The patient should remain well hydrated and take a stool softener to keep stool soft.

Complications
Common complications of thrombosed external hemorrhoid excision include pain, bleeding, infection and delayed healing. A perianal skin tag could develop in some patients. Stricture and incontinence are extremely rare complications.

Why can’t Single Treatment Modality Fix All Hemorrhoids? | Minnesota

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Hemorrhoids diseases include internal hemorrhoids, external hemorrhoids, anal tags, thrombosis of hemorrhoids and mixed hemorrhoids. Internal hemorrhoids are graded from I to IV based on the degree of prolapse. Besides causing anal itching, pain, bleeding and prolapse, hemorrhoids could cause other complications, such as thrombosis, anemia, and infection. Moreover, many hemorrhoid patients have a comorbidity of anal fissure, fistula, or anal warts. Because no single treatment modality can fix all hemorrhoids, a true hemorrhoid clinic will offer multiple treatment modalities and options to meet a patient’s needs and provide complete care.

If you are treated with single modality for your hemorrhoids, regardless of the severity, type of hemorrhoids, and associated anorectal conditions, it leads to poor results because of poor quality care.

No single treatment modality can fix all hemorrhoids or get rid of anorectal symptoms. Specialized hemorrhoid clinics should be able to offer multiple treatment modalities with cutting edge technologies to cure hemorrhoids and associated diseases.

Internal hemorrhoid Grade 1
Very early hemorrhoids can often be effectively dealt with by dietary and lifestyle changes. The lifestyle changes should also be part of the treatment plan for more advanced hemorrhoids.

Internal hemorrhoid Grade 1-2
Infrared coagulation (IRC) is a non-surgical treatment that is fast, well tolerated, and remarkably complication-free. The infrared light quickly coagulates the vessels that provide the hemorrhoid with blood, causing the hemorrhoids to shrink and recede.

Internal hemorrhoid Grade 3
Rubber band ligation is widely used for the treatment of more advanced (more prolapsed) internal hemorrhoids where the prolapsed hemorrhoidal tissue is pulled into a double-sleeved cylinder to allow the placement of rubber bands around the tissue. Over time, the ligated tissue dies off. Rubber band ligation downgrades the hemorrhoids to grade 1 or 2, so some patients may need to do Infra-Red Coagulation (IRC) treatments after Rubber band ligation.

Internal hemorrhoid Grade 4
A hemorrhoidectomy surgically removes the tissue that causes bleeding or protrusion. It is done in a doctor’s office, surgical center, or hospital under anesthesia and may require a period of inactivity.

External hemorrhoidal tags (anal tags)
Small and asymptomatic tags don’t need any treatment. If symptomatic, anal tags can easily be removed in the office using a local anesthetic and a radiofrequency device.

Thrombosed external hemorrhoids
These hemorrhoids are typically treated with either incision to remove the clot or with external hemorrhoidectomy. Simply draining the clot usually relieves the pain immediately, but it may not work well if multiple thromboses exist as it can also lead to recurrence, so it is better for patients with multiple thromboses to completely excise the thrombosed hemorrhoids.

External hemorrhoids
Small and asymptomatic external hemorrhoids don’t need any treatment, however most patients will have an intermittent flare up. Eventually patients may need surgery (external hemorrhoidectomy) if you have large external hemorrhoids and/or persistent symptomatic external hemorrhoids.