BACKGROUND/AIMS The patients with rectal prolapse suffer from not only a prolapse rectum but also associated dysfunction. However, most surgical techniques are successful regarding the prolapse, but either do not solve or even worsen defecation dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional and physiological results after surgical correction in patients with rectal pro...

CONTEXT Management of patients with obstructed defecation syndrome is still controversial. OBJECTIVE To analyze the efficacy of clinical, clinical treatment followed by biofeedback, and surgical treatment in patients with obstructed defecation, rectocele and multiple dysfunctions evaluated with echodefecography. METHODS The study included 103 females aged 26-84 years with obstructed defecat...

Oxygen (O2) desaturation may occur in patients affected by respiratory diseases during daily activities, although most of these activities, e.g. walking, washing and cooking, can be avoided or eventually performed with an external aid. In this prospective study, the respiratory changes induced by the mandatory effort of defecation were assessed in patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency...

BACKGROUND We analyzed data from the baseline assessment of a large intervention project to describe typical handwashing practices in rural Bangladesh, and compare measures of hand cleanliness with household characteristics. METHODS We randomly selected 100 villages from 36 districts in rural Bangladesh. Field workers identified 17 eligible households per village using systematic sampling. Fi...

Acupuncture is a commonly used therapy for treating functional diarrhea (FD), although there is limited knowledge on the mechanism. The objectives of this study were to investigate the differences in brain activities elicited by acupuncture between FD patients and healthy controls (HC) so as to explore the possible mechanism. Eighteen FD patients and eighteen HC received 10 sessions of acupunct...

Background This study aimed to determine effects of synbiotics on treatment of functional constipation in children aged 2-10 years old. Materials and Methods This randomized single blind clinical trial study carried out on children who had functional constipation based on the Rome III criteria. The  polyethylene glycol + synbiotic group (P+S group, n=38)received the synbiotic with polyethylene ...

INTRODUCTION Abdominal pain, bloating, and defecation disturbances are common complaints in gastrointestinal functional disorders. This study explores whether bowel symptoms are correlated to colon transit time (CTT), faecal loading (coprostasis), and colon length; and whether prokinetic intervention can reduce CTT, faecal retention, and symptoms. METHODS This observational and interventional...

INTRODUCTION Constipation is a common problem in intensive care units. We assessed the efficacy and safety of laxative therapy aiming to promote daily defecation in reducing organ dysfunction in mechanically ventilated patients. METHODS We conducted a prospective, randomized, controlled, nonblinded phase II clinical trial at two general intensive care units. Patients expected to remain ventil...

BACKGROUND: Constipation is one of the common problems in childhood and consists of 3% of referrals to pediatricians and 25% of pediatric gastroenterologists. Aperients are common alternatives for treating chronic constipation. The present study aimed to compare the efficacy of three laxatives [polyethylene glycol (PEG), magnesium hydroxide, and lactulose]. METHODS: In this randomized clinical ...

Encopresis is often the result of chronic constipation in the majority of paediatric patients. In clinical practice, however, encopresis is also seen without constipation and it is unknown whether these two clinical variants are based on similar or different pathophysiological mechanisms, requiring different therapeutic approaches. We analysed clinical symptoms, colonic transit time (CTT), oroc...