Sphincter Function (sphincter + function)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Videofluoroscopic Upper Esophageal Sphincter Function in Elderly Dysphagic Patients

THE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 2 2002
Katherine A. Kendall MD
Abstract Objectives/Hypothesis The intent of the study was to identify and characterize abnormalities of the timing and extent of upper esophageal sphincter (UES) opening in an elderly population complaining of dysphagia. Study Design A retrospective review of dynamic swallow studies performed on patients greater than 65 years of age without an obvious medical or surgical cause for their dysphagia. Methods Measures of UES opening timing and extent in the patient population were compared with those from 60 young, normal control subjects and 23 elderly control subjects. The relationship of UES function and other swallowing abnormalities was also evaluated. Results No decrease in the size of UES opening was identified in the patient population. The coordination of UES opening relative to the position of the bolus in the pharynx was normal. UES opening was prolonged and was correlated with poor pharyngeal clearing suggestive of weak pharyngeal constriction. Conclusion No primary abnormality of UES function was identified in this elderly dysphagic patient population. [source]


Effects of acute hyperglycaemia on anorectal motor and sensory function in diabetes mellitus

DIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 2 2004
A. Russo
Abstract Aims To determine the effects of acute hyperglycaemia on anorectal motor and sensory function in patients with diabetes mellitus. Methods In eight patients with Type 1, and 10 patients with Type 2 diabetes anorectal motility and sensation were evaluated on separate days while the blood glucose concentration was stabilized at either 5 mmol/l or 12 mmol/l using a glucose clamp technique. Eight healthy subjects were studied under euglycaemic conditions. Anorectal motor and sensory function was evaluated using a sleeve/sidehole catheter, incorporating a barostat bag. Results In diabetic subjects hyperglycaemia was associated with reductions in maximal (P < 0.05) and plateau (P < 0.05) anal squeeze pressures and the rectal pressure/volume relationship (compliance) during barostat distension (P < 0.01). Hyperglycaemia had no effect on the perception of rectal distension. Apart from a reduction in rectal compliance (P < 0.01) and a trend (P = 0.06) for an increased number of spontaneous anal sphincter relaxations, there were no differences between the patients studied during euglycaemia when compared with healthy subjects. Conclusions In patients with diabetes, acute hyperglycaemia inhibits external anal sphincter function and decreases rectal compliance, potentially increasing the risk of faecal incontinence. Diabet. Med. 21, 176,182 (2004) [source]


Anal sphincter preservation in locally advanced low rectal adenocarcinoma after preoperative chemoradiation therapy and coloanal anastomosis

JOURNAL OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY, Issue 1 2003
Pedro Luna-Pérez MD
Background and Objectives Standard treatment of rectal adenocarcinoma located 3,6 cm above anal verge is abdominoperineal resection. The objective was to evaluate feasibility, morbidity, and functional results of anal sphincter preservation after preoperative chemoradiation therapy and coloanal anastomosis in patients with rectal adenocarcinoma located between 3 and 6 cm above the anal verge. Methods This study included 17 males and 15 females with a mean age of 54.8,± 15.4 years. Tumors were located at a mean of 4.7,±,1.1 cm above the anal verge. The mean tumor size was 4.6,±,1.5 cm. All patients received the scheduled treatment. Twenty-two patients underwent coloanal anastomosis with the J pouch; 10 underwent straight anastomosis. Average surgical time was 328.7,±,43.8 min, and the average intraoperative hemorrhage was 471.5,±,363.6 ml. The mean distal surgical margin was 1.3,±,0.6 cm. Five patients (15.6%) received a blood transfusion. Results Major complications included coloanal anastomotic leakage (three); pelvic abscess (three), and coloanal stenosis (two). Tumor stages were as follows: T0,2,N0,M0,=,12; T3,N0,M0,=,9; T1,3,N+,M0,=,9, and T1,3,N0,3,M+,=,2. Diverting stomas were closed in 30 patients. Median follow-up was 25 months. Recurrences occurred in four patients and were local and distant (n,=,1) and distant (n,=,3). Anal sphincter function was perfect (n,=,20), incontinent to gas (n,=,3), occasional minor leak (n,=,2), frequent major soiling (n,=,3), and colostomy (n,=,2). Conclusions In patients with locally advanced rectal cancer located 3,6 cm from anal verge who are traditionally treated with abdominoperineal resection, preservation of anal sphincter after preoperative chemoradiation therapy plus complete rectal excision with coloanal anastomosis is feasible and is associated with acceptable morbidity and no mortality. J. Surg. Oncol. 2003;82:3,9. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Morphological mechanisms for regulating blood flow through hepatic sinusoids

LIVER INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2000
Robert S. McCuskey
Abstract: This review summarizes what is known about the various morphological sites that regulate the distribution of blood flow to and from the sinusoids in the hepatic microvascular system. These sites potentially include the various segments of the afferent portal venules and hepatic arterioles, the sinusoids themselves, and central and hepatic venules. Given the paucity of smooth muscle in the walls of these vessels, various sinusoidal lining cells have been suggested to play a role in regulating the diameters of sinusoids and influencing the distribution and velocity of blood flow in these vessels. While sinusoidal endothelial cells have been demonstrated to be contractile and to exhibit sphincter function, attention has recently focused on the perisinusoidal stellate cell as the cell responsible for controlling the sinusoidal diameter. A very recent study, however, suggested that the principal site of vasoconstriction elicited by ET-1 was the pre-terminal portal venule. This raised the question of whether or not the diameters of sinusoids might decrease due to passive recoil when inflow is reduced or eliminated and intra-sinusoidal pressure falls. In more recent in vivo microscopic studies, clamping of the portal vein dramatically reduced sinusoidal blood flow as well as the diameters of sinusoids. The sinusoidal lumens rapidly returned to their initial diameters upon restoration of portal blood flow suggesting that sinusoidal blood pressure normally distends the sinusoidal wall which can recoil when the pressure drops. Stellate cells may be responsible for this reaction given the nature of their attachment to parenchymal cells by obliquely oriented microprojections from the lateral edges of their subendothelial processes. This suggests that care must be exercised when interpreting the mechanism for the reduction of sinusoidal diameters following drug administration without knowledge of changes occurring to the portal venous and hepatic inflow. [source]


The effect of baclofen on gastro-oesophageal reflux, lower oesophageal sphincter function and reflux symptoms in patients with reflux disease

ALIMENTARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 9 2002
M. A. Van Herwaarden
SUMMARY Background :,Baclofen decreases gastro-oesophageal reflux episodes in healthy subjects by reducing the incidence of transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations. Aim :,To investigate the effect of baclofen on reflux symptoms, oesophageal pH and lower oesophageal sphincter manometry in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. Methods :,A double-blind, placebo-controlled, two-way crossover design was used to study the effect of baclofen on heartburn and regurgitation 3 h after a provocation test meal in 37 patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. Additionally, in 20 of these patients, the effect of baclofen on oesophageal pH, transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations and basal lower oesophageal sphincter pressure was studied. Results :,Baclofen significantly decreased the acid reflux time and the incidence of gastro-oesophageal reflux episodes (8.3 ± 8.8% vs. 12.4 ± 12.0%, P = 0.03 and 10.9 ± 7.3 per 3 h vs. 18.7 ± 12.4 per 3 h). The incidence of transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations was significantly lower with baclofen than with placebo (15.1 ± 6.4 per 3 h vs. 22.8 ± 5.4 per 3 h, P < 0.0001). Lower oesophageal sphincter pressure and the percentage of transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations associated with reflux were not affected by baclofen. No significant effect on symptom scores was observed. Conclusions :,Baclofen decreases post-prandial acid reflux in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease by reducing the incidence of transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations. No effect of a single dose of baclofen on reflux symptoms could be demonstrated in this 3-h post-prandial study. [source]


Changes in afferent activity after spinal cord injury,

NEUROUROLOGY AND URODYNAMICS, Issue 1 2010
William C. de Groat
Abstract Aims To summarize the changes that occur in the properties of bladder afferent neurons following spinal cord injury. Methods Literature review of anatomical, immunohistochemical, and pharmacologic studies of normal and dysfunctional bladder afferent pathways. Results Studies in animals indicate that the micturition reflex is mediated by a spinobulbospinal pathway passing through coordination centers (periaqueductal gray and pontine micturition center) located in the rostral brain stem. This reflex pathway, which is activated by small myelinated (A,) bladder afferent nerves, is in turn modulated by higher centers in the cerebral cortex involved in the voluntary control of micturition. Spinal cord injury at cervical or thoracic levels disrupts voluntary voiding, as well as the normal reflex pathways that coordinate bladder and sphincter function. Following spinal cord injury, the bladder is initially areflexic but then becomes hyperreflexic due to the emergence of a spinal micturition reflex pathway. The recovery of bladder function after spinal cord injury is dependent in part on the plasticity of bladder afferent pathways and the unmasking of reflexes triggered by unmyelinated, capsaicin-sensitive, C-fiber bladder afferent neurons. Plasticity is associated with morphologic, chemical, and electrical changes in bladder afferent neurons and appears to be mediated in part by neurotrophic factors released in the spinal cord and the peripheral target organs. Conclusions Spinal cord injury at sites remote from the lumbosacral spinal cord can indirectly influence properties of bladder afferent neurons by altering the function and chemical environment in the bladder or the spinal cord. Neurourol. Urodynam. 29: 63,76, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Urinary incontinence and voiding dysfunction after radical retropubic prostatectomy (prospective urodynamic study)

NEUROUROLOGY AND URODYNAMICS, Issue 1 2006
Attila Majoros
Abstract Aims During this prospective study we analyzed the effects of radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) on bladder and sphincter function by comparing preoperative and postoperative urodynamic data. The aim of the study was to determine the reason for urinary incontinence after RRP and explain why one group of patients will be immediately continent after catheter removal, while others need some time to reach complete continence. Methods Urodynamic examination was performed in 63 patients 3,7 days before and 2 months after surgery. Results Forty-three (68.2%) and 53 (84.1%) patients regained continence at 2 and 9 months following RRP, respectively. Ten patients (15.9%) were immediately continent after catheter removal. Urodynamic stress incontinence was detected in 18 (28.6%), and detrusor overactivity incontinence in 2 (3.2%) patients 2 months after surgery. The amplitude of preoperative maximal voluntary sphincteric contractions was significantly higher in the postoperative continent group (125 vs. 96.5 cmH2O, P,<,0.0001). The patients who were immediately continent following catheter removal had no lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and urodynamic abnormality preoperatively, and they had significantly higher preoperative and postoperative maximum urethral closure pressure (at rest and during voluntary sphincter contraction) than those who became continent later on. Conclusions These data suggest that the main cause of incontinence after RRP is sphincteric weakness. In the continent group, those who became immediately continent had significantly higher maximum urethral closure pressure values at rest and at voluntary sphincteric contraction even before the surgery. Neurourol. Urodynam. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


A randomised clinical trial comparing the effects of delayed versus immediate pushing with epidural analgesia on mode of delivery and faecal continence

BJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 12 2002
Myra Fitzpatrick
Objective To assess the effects of delayed vs immediate pushing in second stage of labour with epidural analgesia on delivery outcome, postpartum faecal continence and postpartum anal sphincter and pudendal nerve function. Design Prospective, randomised, controlled trial. Setting Tertiary referral maternity teaching hospital. Population One hundred and seventy nulliparous women randomised at full dilatation to immediate or delayed pushing. Methods A total of 178 nulliparous women, all with continuous epidural analgesia, were randomised at full cervical dilatation, but before the fetal head had reached the pelvic floor, to either immediate pushing or 1 hour delayed pushing. Labour outcome was analysed and all women underwent postpartum assessment of anal sphincter function, including anal manometry. Those women who had a normal delivery underwent neurophysiology studies, while those women who had an instrumental delivery underwent endoanal ultrasound. Main outcome measures Mode of delivery; altered faecal continence. Results Ninety women were randomised to immediate pushing and 88 to delayed pushing. The spontaneous delivery rate was 56% (50/90) in the immediate pushing group and 52% (46/88) in the delayed pushing group. Mean duration of labour for the immediate pushing group was 427 minutes compared with 480 minutes for the delayed pushing group (P= 0.005). Eighty-four percent (76/90) of women in the immediate pushing group received oxytocin to augment labour, 21/76 (28%) in the second stage only. Eighty-one percent (71/88) of women in the delayed pushing group received oxytocin to augment labour, 22/71 (31%) in the second stage only. Fetal outcome did not differ between the two groups. Episiotomy rates were 73% and 69% in the immediate pushing and delayed pushing groups, respectively. 26% (23/90) of the immediate pushing group and 38% (33/88) of the delayed pushing group complained of altered faecal continence after delivery (NS). Manometry, ultrasound and neurophysiology studies did not differ significantly between the two groups. Overall, 55% of women after instrumental delivery had endosonographic evidence of damage to the external anal sphincter, while 36% of women after spontaneous delivery had abnormal neurophysiology studies. Conclusions Rates of instrumental delivery were similar following immediate and delayed pushing, in association with epidural analgesia. Delayed pushing prolonged labour by 1 hour but did not result in significantly higher rates of altered continence or anal sphincter injury, when compared with immediate pushing. [source]