Defecography in symptomatic older women living at home.

BACKGROUND

complaints of defecation disorders in older patients living at home is an emerging problem. Little is known about radiological examination of this population.

OBJECTIVE

this study aimed to analyse the yield of defecography in women older than 75 years, living at home and complaining of defecation disorders.

DESIGN AND SETTINGS: prospective study of patients referred to a radiology department in a tertiary-care medical centre in Rouen, France.

SUBJECTS AND

METHODS

52 women (mean age: 78, range: 75-93) complaining of constipation, faecal incontinence or pelvic pain underwent defecography. Defecography was performed after intake of a barium meal and vaginal opacification. Radiographs were analysed accordingly with the established criteria.

RESULTS

defecography showed perineal descent in 27 patients, rectocele in 29, intussusception in 33 and enterocele in 14. A combination of abnormalities was found in 40 women. Only 3 studies were normal. There was no significant association between symptoms and pelvic disorders revealed by defecography.

CONCLUSIONS

defecography in symptomatic women aged 75 years and over did not raise any technical difficulty. It revealed a 77% rate of abnormalities, but there was no relationship between the symptoms and the detected abnormalities.