Last updated: 02/17/2009

The primary purpose of a hemorrhoidectomy is to relieve the symptoms associated with hemorrhoids that have not responded to more conservative treatments. These symptoms commonly include bleeding and pain. In some cases the hemorrhoid may protrude from...

the patient's anus. Less commonly, the patient may notice a discharge of mucus or have the feeling that they have not completely emptied the bowel after defecating. Hemorrhoids are usually treated with dietary and medical measures before surgery is recommended because they are not dangerous, and are only rarely a medical emergency. Many people have hemorrhoids that do not produce any symptoms at all.

As of 2003, inpatient hemorrhoidectomies are performed significantly less frequently than they were as recently as the 1970s. In 1974, there were 117 hospital hemorrhoidectomies performed per 100,000 people in the general United States population; this figure declined to 37 per 100,000 by 1987.