Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the medium-term outcomes of internal Delorme's procedure for treating obstructed defecation syndrome (ODS) patients with impaired anal continence.
Patients and methods: In a retrospective study, 41 ODS patients who underwent internal Delorme's procedure between 2011 and 2015 were divided into 3 subgroups according to their associated symptoms of impaired continence, as urgency, passive fecal incontinence and both, before study. Then the patients' preoperative statuses, perioperative complications, and postoperative outcomes were investigated and collected from standardized questionnaires, including Altomare ODS score, Fecal Incontinence Severity Index (FISI), Patient Assessment of Constipation-Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAC-QoL), and Fecal Incontinence Quality of Life Scale (FIQLS). All results with a 2-tailed P < .05 were considered statistically significant.
Results: At an average 2.8 years of follow-up, there were significant improvements ( P < .01) in Altomare ODS score, FISI, PAC-QoL, and FIQLS in all patients when comparing scores from before the operation with those at the final follow-up. Similar results were also observed in both the urgency subgroup and passive fecal incontinence subgroup, but there were no statistically significant improvements ( P > .05) in Altomare ODS score, FISI, PAC-QoL, or FIQLS in the urgency and passive fecal incontinence subgroups. Anorectal manometry showed the mean value of anal resting pressure increased 20%. Additionally, no major complications occurred.
Conclusion: Internal Delorme's procedure is effective without major morbidity for treating ODS associated with urgency or passive fecal incontinence, but it may be less effective for treating ODS associated with both urgency and passive fecal incontinence.
Keywords: ODS; fecal incontinence; functional results; impaired anal continence; internal Delorme’s procedure; obstructed defecation syndrome.