Difficult defaecation and/or faecal incontinence as a presenting feature of neurologic disorders in four patients

Neurogastroenterol Motil. 1997 Mar;9(1):13-8. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2982.1997.d01-2.x.

Abstract

We report four cases of difficult defaecation and/or faecal incontinence revealing a neurologic disease. These anorectal symptoms were associated with urinary disorders, but urinary symptoms always appeared several years after anorectal complaints. Clinical neurologic examination immediately led us to suspect a neurologic aetiology in two patients with the following signs: perineal hypoesthesia, absence of voluntary anal contraction and anal reflexes in one subject (final diagnosis: L1 neurinoma), and in the other a weakness in both thighs with absent tendon reflexes in the four limbs (final diagnosis: amiodarone neuropathy). In the two other patients with multiple cerebral infarction or multiple system atrophy, the neurologic aetiology was suspected on the absence of anal voluntary contraction contrasting with a normal perineal anatomy, but the final diagnosis was made only two years later when orthostatic arterial hypotension occurred.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Constipation / etiology*
  • Fecal Incontinence / etiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nervous System Diseases / physiopathology*