The transverse diameter of the rectum measured by lower abdominal ultrasound provides an additional accurate parameter with which to diagnose constipation in patients with nonneurogenic bladder-sphincter dyssynergia.
Home uroflowmetry appears to be a useful adjunctive treatment for the reduction of complaints in children with dysfunctional voiding due to nonneurogenic bladder-sphincter dyssynergia.
Authors from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany tried to clarify the relationship between disordered defecation and non‐neuropathic bladder‐sphincter dysfunction; they found few arguments for a casual relationship between these conditions.
OBJECTIVE
To clarify the relationship between disordered defecation and non‐neuropathic bladder‐sphincter dysfunction (NNBSD) by comparing the prevalence of symptoms of disordered defecation in children with NNBSD before and after treatment for urinary incontinence (UI), and assessing the effect of such symptoms on the cure rate for UI.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
In the European Bladder Dysfunction Study, a prospective multicentre study comparing treatment plans for children with NNBSD, 202 children completed questionnaires on voiding and on defecation, at entry and after treatment for UI. Four symptoms of disordered defecation were evaluated; low defecation frequency, painful defecation, fecal soiling, and encopresis.
RESULTS
At entry, 17 of the 179 children with complete data sets had low defecation frequency and/or painful defecation (9%), classified as functional constipation (FC). Of the 179 children, 57 had either isolated fecal soiling or soiling with encopresis (32%), classified as functional fecal incontinence (FFI). After treatment for UI, FFI decreased to 38/179 (21%) (statistically significant, P = 0.035); for FC there were too few children for analysis. After treatment for UI, 19 of the 179 children (11%) reported de novo FFI. Symptoms of disordered defecation did not influence the cure rate of treatment for UI.
CONCLUSIONS
FFI improved significantly after treatment for UI only, but not in relation to the outcome of such treatment. FFI did not influence the cure rate for UI. There was little to support a causal relation between disordered defecation and NNBDS (‘functional elimination syndrome’).
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