Enhanced surgical management of complex anal fistulas via integrated traditional Chinese medicine: A retrospective cohort study

Table 3 Healing time and recovery indicator analysis, mean ± SD

Characteristic	Conventional treatment group (n = 62)	Optimized treatment group (n = 70)	Statistical value	P value
Complete healing time (days)	28.3 ± 5.8	21.5 ± 4.2	2.35	< 0.001
Anal function recovery time (days)	19.7 ± 4.5	14.2 ± 3.1	2.48	< 0.001
Wound epithelialization time (days)	25.1 ± 4.9	18.8 ± 3.6	2.61	< 0.001
Time to first ambulation (hours)	18.4 ± 3.2	12.6 ± 2.8	2.14	< 0.001
Time to normal diet resumption (days)	4.8 ± 1.6	2.9 ± 1.1	2.31	< 0.001
Time to first painless defecation (days)	8.7 ± 2.4	5.3 ± 1.9	2.67	< 0.001
Time to complete discharge cessation (days)	15.2 ± 4.1	10.8 ± 3.2	2.05	< 0.001
Time to return to work (days)	21.6 ± 6.3	16.4 ± 4.7	1.98	< 0.01