Interview: Dr. Philip Pearson on BioHealx

I’m here with Dr. Philip Pearson at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He’s just completed the first BioHealx case in the state of Pennsylvania as part of our PMS study for Signum Surgical.

Philip, how did you think the case went today?

It was extraordinarily easy. Obviously, we’ve been thinking about this for a long time and preparing for a long time. I would say being organized and being prepared was very helpful.

But the actual case itself took less than 15 minutes and was easier and simpler, I think, than many of the standard fistulotomy cases I do. It was very easy.

Super. And so, what would have been your procedure had you not done the BioHealx today?

So, this young lady had an abscess that I drained more than three months ago. Put in a seton, and looking at the amount of muscular tissue left, it was probably a solid 2 cm of internal and external muscle left.

In a young woman, this is anteriorly oriented. We were talking about the perineal body being at risk.

I would have taken a slow two more operations to do what I usually do, which is a partial fistulotomy, sort of a staged fistulotomy, allow the scar tissue to come in.

It would have been at least two more surgeries, and I would have told her point blank, “I am going to divide a bunch of your muscle, but I think you’ll heal and the scar tissue will help you not be incontinent.”

But still, it’s hard to tell someone I’m dividing a whole bunch of your muscle. And I would have had to tell her that.

It’s a bit of an unfair question because you just completed the case, but what do you think the advantage is going to be for patients using this approach versus what you would do in your standard practice?

Well, the advantages for the patients are multiple. One is that, again, I don’t have to divide their muscle, and most people are pretty attuned to that and pretty cognizant that anal musculature is really important in life.

And so, they would be very thrilled to learn that this new procedure does not divide any muscle whatsoever. So that’s one great thing.

The second great thing for patients is I’m very straightforward with them. When I see a very high fistula or very deep fistula or a very long fistula, I will say this is going to take two, maybe three, maybe four operations.

They kind of slump and sigh, and I say, “Well, I don’t want to hurt you and I don’t want to cause incontinence.” Then they perk up and they’re like, “Okay, I’ll take it. I’ll take three or four if that makes me not incontinent.”

So, the benefit here is I can say, “You know what? I’m going to do one operation to kind of clean things up and put in a seton. Then the second operation, if it’s right, if you fit the criteria, can be a BioHealx. No muscular division. Only two operations.”

Does that sound weird? Only two operations. Yeah, but compared to three or four where you’re dividing a ton of muscle, that’s a pretty big bonus.

So, less operative time, less recovery, less missing work. People can’t believe they have to take a week off after each one, and then they’re missing work and taking FMLA time and stuff like that.

So, huge bonus for the patient to use BioHealx. Huge.

Well, thank you. Appreciate your time today, and great job in the OR.

Very good. Tony, thanks so much for coming over to Bryn Mawr and helping me with the case. Appreciate it. Cheers.