AIM Anal fissures are associated with hypertonia of the internal anal sphincter and pain. We evaluated the efficacy of local application of a combination of minoxidil and lignocaine in healing anal fissures. METHODS In this prospective, randomized, double-blind study, 90 patients with anal fissure were recruited. Patients received local applications of ointments containing 5% lignocaine (n=28...

Urinary retention in young women is rare, but a syndrome has recently been described in which urinary retention is associated with abnormal periurethral electromyography. The incidence of bowel dysfunction in these women was investigated, in an attempt to determine whether this might be a more widespread disorder. Of 12 patients with this urological abnormality, eight were constipated. No consi...

OBJECTIVE To describe the current practice, experience, and confidence of Canadian obstetricians in the management of obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) and to explore the need for national practice guidelines on this topic. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional, Internet-based survey between December 2010 and March 2011. The survey was initially tested among a sample population and t...

Stimulation of the rectal mucosa with a bipolar electrode leads to relaxation of the internal anal sphincter. Intraoperative studies in two subjects showed that transmission of the impulse was independent of extrinsic nerves and was interrupted by circular myotomy. Characteristics of the reflex were studied in 11 healthy women and 19 women with severe idiopathic constipation. One control subjec...

1. Recent studies indicate that nitroglycerin (NTG) can produce beneficial clinical effects in healing anal fissures through the relaxation of the internal anal sphincter. The in vivo relaxation effects of NTG on the anorectal smooth muscle have not been studied and it is not known whether this tissue may also exhibit pharmacological tolerance toward NTG. 2. We have developed an in vivo procedu...

Anal dilatation in response to gentle parting of the buttocks has been advocated as a sign of sexual abuse in children, but nothing is known of the physiology of this response or its existence in normal subjects, in patients with spinal disease, and in patients with a weak sphincter and whether it can be elicited after training. To answer these questions we investigated the effect of parting th...

Abstract Introduction We have suggested that mean Opening Pressure (Op) recorded during Anal Acoustic Reflectometry (AAR) predominantly represents IAS function however, the extent remains unknown. The aim was to investigate this by excluding external anal sphincter general anaesthetic (GA) with confirmed neuromuscular blockade (NMB). Method Patients undergoing elective abdominal surgery requiri...

tum, especially in the cases of gracilis muscle transfer. Goldsmith reported eight cases of a pedicled gastric pyloric valve transposition to provide a new sphincter ani in a human being [3]. Twenty-five percent of the patients had serious complications of pelvic sepsis and transplant necrosis. Manometric studies were done preoperatively on patients with anal sphincter damage and after pyloric ...