ABSTRACT
Hemorrhoids are vascular cushions found in the anal canal. Whether these contribute to the effective sealing of the canal and indirectly to continence is unclear. The great majority of hemorrhoids are asymptomatic. The incidence increases with age and men are more commonly symptomatic than women. Reproduced with permission from Thomson WH. The nature of haemorrhoids.<italic>British Journal of Surgery</italic> 1975; 62: 542–52. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429100932/76c97e6a-a85e-4c07-8d0b-d32156ce347e/content/fig2_6_1.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
