Abstract:
Stool incontinence can be as a result of congenital or acquired anal sphincter problems.
It is a devastating state for a patient not to be able to control stools resulting into
continued feacal soiling. It reduces an individual to a dejected and depressed person
who becomes a social misfit. Hence any procedure that can alleviate this state is
normally highly appreciated. Various techniques have been quoted in literature and
use of gracilis muscle to form a neosphincter is one of them. Dynamic graciloplasty,
is a technique whereby electrodes have been implanted into gracilis muscle and is
connected to an implantable pulse generator which provides progressive levels of
stimulation to convert the fast twitch, fatigue prone muscle fibres to a slow twitch,
fatigue resistant firbres over eight week training period (1,2,3). This has shown improved
efficacy over the static graciloplasty (3). In this case report, five patients with stool
incontinence from different aetiologies are presented, all having been managed by
static graciloplasty and intense physiotherapy with good outcomes reported.
