Clinical topography of the proctodeum.

Textbooks do not provide sufficient descriptions of the proctodeal anatomy and its clinical significance. For example, operation on anal or anorectal fistulas demands detailed knowledge of the continence organ. Proctologic diseases such as haemorrhoids, abscesses and fistulas clarify the situation as they show the natural spaces and leading structures. We studied the proctodeal region in autopsy specimens and also carried out microscopic work on slices of the continence organ. Clinical (rectoscopic, operative) and autopsy findings were thus combined, and morphology is seen under the aspect of proctologic diseases and their treatment.