Sacral nerve stimulation for the treatment of faecal incontinence secondary to a pelvic war injury: a case report.

Faecal incontinence can be physically and socially disabling and the level of unmet need in men appears to be high. We report a case of faecal incontinence in a 29-year-old, heterosexual serviceman who sustained a trans-pelvic gunshot injury (without perineal injury) while on active duty. Despite apparently successful surgical treatment, the patient presented to our colorectal department 7 years after injury with disabling faecal incontinence. Following assessment, sacral nerve stimulation (SNS) was initiated with excellent results. We report the successful use of SNS to treat faecal incontinence resulting from a combat gunshot injury. We recommend that surgeons carefully document the anatomical position of retained ballistic fragments after gunshot or blast fragment injury and that attention should be paid to the functional results in a patient's follow-up after intestinal surgery.