BACKGROUND Despite the potential for morbidity and permanent lifestyle alteration, few reports exist examining traumatic injury to the anal canal, particularly among modern-day combatants. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to document the incidence, initial surgical management, and long-term outcomes of wartime anal trauma. DESIGN This study is a retrospective review. DATA SOURCES Data ...

The ultrastructural features of the internal anal sphincter (IAS) muscle were studied in biopsies from five patients with neurogenic anorectal incontinence and six control subjects undergoing anorectal excision for cancer, or for inflammatory bowel disease. In the patients with idiopathic neurogenic anorectal incontinence the internal anal sphincter showed loss of smooth muscle cells, disruptio...

OBJECTIVE To assess oncologic outcome of patients treated by conservative radical surgery for tumors below 5 cm from the anal verge. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA Standard surgical treatment of low rectal cancer below 5 cm from the anal verge is abdominoperineal resection. METHODS From 1990 to 2003, patients with a nonfixed rectal carcinoma at 4.5 cm or less from the anal verge and without extern...

A reproducible electrophysiological technique is described to determine the latency of reflex contraction of the external anal sphincter in response to stimulation of the dorsal genital nerve: the pudendo-anal reflex. This was studied in 38 asymptomatic control subjects and 20 women with neurogenic faecal incontinence, supplemented by determination of the mean motor unit potential duration (MUP...