Worldwide trends in pilonidal sinus disease recurrence rate

Background With the emergence of new techniques and increasing knowledge about pilonidal sinus disease (PSD), there is curiosity regarding the trends in recurrence rate. Objective The objective of this study is to analyze trends in the recurrence rates associated with PSD treatments over the past decades, spanning from the discovery of PSD to the present. This analysis was conducted by examining the proportion of recurrent patients among all patients undergoing pilonidal sinus surgery. Methods A comprehensive search was performed in global literature databases, including PubMed, Embase, ScienceDirect, and others, to gather reported data on PSD recurrence rates from 1833 to the present. The collected articles were grouped and analyzed. Results The published patient group sizes ranged from n = 6439 patients with n = 130 cases of recurrent disease in 1930 to n = 42,537 patients with n = 3548 cases of recurrent disease in 2000. While the rate of recurrent patients seeking surgery varied between 2% in 1930 and 14% in 1940, no clear trend could be established. Notably, there was no significant decrease in the raw recurrence rate between 1930 and the past two decades. No limitations were identified in this study. Conclusion The findings suggest that the published recurrence rate of PSD is not decreasing. As the incidence of PSD is increasing, it is possible that the effectiveness of superior therapies is being overshadowed by unknown factors influencing the outcomes. Alternatively, it is plausible that more challenging cases are being published or that available superior therapies are not being adequately utilized. The next step would involve analyzing global trends in the choice of treatment for pilonidal sinus disease.