Anal manometric findings in patients with anal incontinence.

Anal manometric measurements were performed on 25 patients suffering from partial or total anal incontinence. Eleven patients were partially incontinent, and 14, totally incontinent. Compared with age- and sex-matched controls, both incontinent groups had significantly lower maximum basal pressure (MBP) and maximum squeeze pressure (MSP). Comparing the totally incontinent group with the partially incontinent group, the former had significantly lower MBP, but MSP did not differ significantly. The patients could also be grouped according to different manometric patterns, and it was shown that if both basal and squeeze pressures were low, the patients were prone to be totally incontinent. If only the voluntary function, MSP was low, the patients were most likely partially incontinent.