A Quiet Revolution in Hemorrhoid Care: How Proctokinasa® is Changing Lives at Lecheng

There is a peculiar silence that surrounds hemorrhoid disease. In my years of working with patients at the Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone, I have observed how this common affliction—afflicting nearly half of all adults over fifty—remains shrouded in embarrassment, its sufferers often enduring months of discomfort before seeking help. The reasons are understandable: traditional treatments have offered little beyond temporary relief or invasive surgery, and the prospect of discussing one’s condition with strangers feels, for many, more daunting than the pain itself.

But something shifted in early April this year. When Proctokinasa®—a recombinant streptokinase suppository developed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) in Havana—landed at Ruijin Hainan Hospital, I witnessed something I had not seen before: patients arriving not with resignation, but with hope. They had read the clinical data, seen the Cuban and European experience, and understood that at last, a treatment existed that addressed the root cause of their suffering rather than merely masking symptoms.

Hemorrhoid disease, to speak of it plainly, is a disorder of the vascular structures in the anal canal. Under normal circumstances, these cushions of tissue assist with continence; when they become swollen or inflamed, however, they transform into sources of considerable misery.

The acute presentation—what physicians term a hemorrhoidal crisis or thrombosed hemorrhoid—arrives suddenly and without mercy. Patients describe a sharp, persistent perianal pain that makes sitting an exercise in endurance. There is often a palpable swelling, discolored red or purple, accompanied by edema that can render the area exquisitely tender. Rectal bleeding, typically bright red and occurring with bowel movements, adds its own layer of anxiety. Itching, a sensation of incomplete evacuation, and the psychological burden of it all complete a picture that can severely compromise quality of life.

For decades, the therapeutic landscape offered a stark dichotomy: conservative measures—dietary fiber, topical creams, warm baths—that provided modest relief for mild cases, and surgical intervention for severe or recurrent disease. The middle ground, where most patients actually reside, remained inadequately served.

What distinguishes Proctokinasa® from everything that preceded it is its mechanistic elegance. The active ingredient, recombinant streptokinase, is a fibrinolytic enzyme that addresses the pathophysiology of acute hemorrhoids at its source.

Mechanism of Action: Streptokinase interacts with plasminogen in the patient’s own blood, forming an active complex that converts plasminogen to plasmin—the enzyme responsible for breaking down fibrin clots. When delivered locally via suppository, this mechanism dissolves the thrombi and microthrombi that characterize acute hemorrhoidal disease, while simultaneously improving microcirculation, reducing inflammation, and promoting tissue repair.

This is not merely symptom management. It is pathophysiological intervention.

The administration is disarmingly simple: one suppository inserted rectally every eight hours, for a total of four doses to complete the initial course. The patient administers it themselves, in privacy, without need for anesthesia or hospitalization. For those requiring extended treatment, up to six to eight suppositories may be used.

Before Proctokinasa® arrived at Lecheng, it had already written a substantial clinical record. The Cuban experience—where the drug was developed and first deployed—provides the most robust dataset.

In a multicenter, randomized controlled trial conducted across fourteen Cuban hospitals, Proctokinasa® demonstrated a response rate of 91% at five days compared to 27% for hydrocortisone acetate suppositories—a standard over-the-counter preparation. The median time to response was three days versus ten days. Perhaps most significantly, only 1.6% of patients receiving streptokinase required thrombectomy (surgical removal of the clot), compared to 10.5% in the control group.

Similar advantages emerged in comparisons with phenylephrine-based preparations: a 43% higher response rate at day five, with faster time to symptom resolution. These were not marginal improvements; they represented a fundamental shift in what medical therapy could achieve for this condition.

Since its introduction, Proctokinasa® has been used in over 150,000 cases globally, with post-marketing surveillance confirming its safety and tolerability profile. The adverse events reported have been predominantly mild—transient anal discomfort, mild bleeding—and consistent with the underlying disease process rather than the treatment itself.

To appreciate what Proctokinasa® offers, one must consider the limitations of existing therapies:

• Traditional conservative treatments—fiber supplements, sitz baths, topical anesthetics—address symptoms without modifying the underlying thrombotic process. Relief is temporary, and recurrence is common.
• Surgical interventions, while effective for severe or recurrent disease, carry the risks inherent to any operative procedure: anesthesia complications, postoperative pain, wound healing issues, and the psychological burden of hospitalization. For many patients, particularly those with comorbidities, surgery represents a threshold they are reluctant to cross.
• Proctokinasa® occupies a unique therapeutic niche: it is non-invasive yet pathophysiologically targeted, effective yet low-risk, and administered in the privacy of one’s home yet grounded in rigorous clinical science.

The implications extend beyond individual patient comfort. By reducing the need for surgical intervention—thrombectomy rates dropped by over 80% in clinical trials—this therapy promises to alleviate the burden on surgical services and reduce healthcare costs at the systems level.