The importance of local subcutaneous fat thickness in pilonidal disease.

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the local subcutaneous fat thickness in sacrococcygeal pilonidal disease. Subcutaneous fat thickness was measured by ultrasonography in 125 patients with sacrococcygeal pilonidal disease and 125 age-matched, body mass index-matched and gender-matched controls. The sacrococcygeal subcutaneous fat thickness was 14.4 +/- 2.9 mm, 18.3 +/- 3.1 mm, and 22 +/- 2.2 mm, respectively, in normal, overweight, and obese patients with sacrococcygeal pilonidal disease and 9.1 +/- 3.1 mm, 11.3 +/- 2.6 mm, and 20 +/- 1.8 mm, respectively, in normal, overweight, and obese controls. Sacrococcygeal fat was significantly thicker in normal and overweight patients with pilonidal disease compared with controls with same body mass index (P< 0.01). There were no significant differences in fat thickness between obese patients and obese controls (P > 0.05). Sacrococcygeal fat thickness, as a local factor, is closely associated with pilonidal disease.