Contradictory views on the acquired and congenital etiology ofpilonidal disease

Abstract

Pilonidal disease is a pathology that was first described more than 100 years ago.However, it still remains the subject of discussion, because there is still no clearunambiguous definition of this pathology, nor its well-known etiology. Despite the largenumber of developed and substantiated theories, there are still two opposing views onthe cause of pilonidal disease. Some scientists are supporters of the "congenital"theory, others - the theory of acquired origin. However, this does not clarify the ultimategoal of these studies: to develop optimal treatment tactics. The purpose of the work isto clarify the data on the etiology of pilonidal disease in children. The study is based onthe results of treatment analysis of 37 children diagnosed with "pilonidal disease" whowere hospitalized in the Department of Emergency Surgery of Vinnytsia RegionalChildren's Clinical Hospital, of which boys - 26, girls - 11. The mean age of patients was16.4±0.4 years. Histological sections of tissue samples were stained with hematoxylinand eosin. Microscopy and creation of a photo archive of histological specimens wereperformed using a light microscope OLIMPUS BX 41 at a magnification of 100 and 200,in the software environment "Quick PHOTO MICRO 2.3". The study found that there aresignificant differences in the histological structure of pilonidal cysts in children andadults. In pediatric patients, mesenchymal tissue was found, which is not typical for thisgroup of patients. It was also found that the cavity of the pilonidal cyst in children iscovered with a multilayered squamous non-keratinizing epithelium, and there is almostno granulation tissue. In our opinion, pilonidal disease is a polyetiological disease, themain cause of which is the congenital features of the organism, which are realized dueto socio-economic and environmental factors.