Fecal incontinence in chronic diarrhea. Report of a case with improvement after training with rectally infused saline.

Patients with chronic diarrhea and fecal in continence are unable to retain as much rectally infused saline as patients without incontinence. We explored the effect of training such a patient to retain rectally infused saline. The patient was a 31-yr-old female with chronic diarrhea of obscure etiology who had daily episodes of fecal incontinence which markedly restricted her lifestyle. Training was accomplished by urging the patient to retain as much of a 25-min rectal infusion of 1500 ml saline as possible. After 10 training sessions, the patient increased her ability to hold rectally infused saline almost sevenfold. This increase was well maintained over 10 wk. In spite of continued diarrhea, the patient's incontinence did not recur after the first week of training, and she was able to resume a normal life. Anal sphincter pressure and a test of continence for a solid sphere did not change during or after training. This simple training technique has potential as a treatment for disabling fecal incontinence in patients with chronic diarrhea.