Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Severe anal incontinence is caused by various factors and greatly affects survival and life quality of patients. Efforts have been attempted to control incontinence and restore anal function. In particular, reconstruction by operation or muscle replacement for anal sphincter has been performed. However, the effect is not favorable.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the material features and clinical application of artificial anal sphincter.
METHODS: A computer-based online search of Pubmed database (http://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) and Wanfang database (http://www.wanfangdata.com.cn) was performed for articles published between January 1991 and December 2009 related to artificial anal sphincter, material features of artificial anal sphincter and life quality following treatment, with the key words “anal sphincter, fecal incontinence” in English and “anal sphincter, enteroproctia, anal incontinence” in Chinese. Repetitive and outdated studies were excluded. Finally, 22 articles were included.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Ideal artificial anal sphincter should have good biocompatibility, and minimize intestine inflammation. Similar to dynamic gracilis transposition, artificial anal sphincter is placed around original position through tunnel, which maintains certain pressure and recovers through hand pump localized at scrotum or labia. The effect of artificial anal sphincter on treating severe anal incontinence is positive.