Comparison of results of anorectal manometry performed after surgery for anorectal malformations and repeated three years later.

Anorectal manometry was performed in 27 patients 2 to 16 years after surgical correction of anorectal malformations and again 3 years after the initial examination. Further clinical improvement from faecal incontinence to normal bowel habits was observed in 3 of 11 patients with high anomaly. All of these 3 patients received special physiotherapeutic training from 3 months to 1 year during the two examinations. At the second examination these 3 patients had an anorectal pressure difference of more than 10 cmH2O, which is almost normal, and one of the 3 patients had developed an anorectal reflex. These results suggest that the functioning puborectalis muscle, which had been left intact during surgery, might be reinforced by physiotherapeutic training.