Journal of the Anus, Rectum and Colon
Online ISSN : 2432-3853
ISSN-L : 2432-3853
Practice Guidelines
Japanese Practice Guidelines for Fecal Incontinence Part 1-Definition, Epidemiology, Etiology, Pathophysiology and Causes, Risk Factors, Clinical Evaluations, and Symptomatic Scores and QoL Questionnaire for Clinical Evaluations-English Version
Kotaro MaedaTetsuo YamanaYoshihiko TakaoToshiki MimuraHidetoshi KatsunoMihoko SekiAkira TsunodaKazuhiko YoshiokaFecal Incontinence Guideline Preparation Committee
Author information
JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2021 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 52-66

Details
Abstract

Fecal incontinence (FI) is defined as involuntary or uncontrollable loss of feces. Gas incontinence is defined as involuntary or uncontrollable loss of flatus, while anal incontinence is defined as the involuntary loss of feces or flatus. The prevalence of FI in people over 65 in Japan is 8.7% in the male population and 6.6% among females. The etiology of FI is usually not limited to one specific cause, with risk factors for FI including physiological factors, such as age and gender; comorbidities, such as diabetes and irritable bowel syndrome; and obstetric factors, such as multiple deliveries, home delivery, first vaginal delivery, and forceps delivery. In the initial clinical evaluation of FI, the factors responsible for individual symptoms are gathered from the history and examination of the anorectal region. The evaluation is the basis of all medical treatments for FI, including initial treatment, and also serves as a baseline for deciding the need for a specialized defecation function test and selecting treatment in stages. Following the general physical examination, together with history taking, inspection (including anoscope), and palpation (including digital anorectal and vaginal examination) of the anorectal area, clinicians can focus on the causes of FI. For the clinical evaluation of FI, it is useful to use Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), such as scores and questionnaires, to evaluate the symptomatic severity of FI and its influence over quality of life (QoL).

Fullsize Image
Content from these authors
© 2021 The Japan Society of Coloproctology

JARC is an Open Access journal distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Anyone may download, reuse, copy, reprint, or distribute articles published in the Journal for non-profit purposes if they cite the original authors and source properly. If anyone remixes, transforms, or builds upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Previous article Next article
feedback
Top