Central Nervous System Processing of Emotions in Children with Fecal Incontinence and Constipation.

OBJECTIVE

Fecal incontinence and constipation are common disorders in childhood. The enteric nervous system and the central nervous system are highly interactive along the brain-gut axis. The interaction is mainly afferent. These afferent pathways include centers that are involved in the central nervous processing of emotions as the mid/posterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. A previous study revealed altered processing of emotions in children with fecal incontinence. The present study replicates these results.

METHODS

In order to analyze the processing of emotions, we compared the event-related potentials of 25 children with fecal incontinence and constipation to those of 15 control children during the presentation of positive, negative, and neutral pictures.

RESULTS

Children with fecal incontinence and constipation showed altered processing of emotions, especially in the parietal and central cortical regions.

CONCLUSIONS

The main study results of the previous study were replicated, increasing the certainty and validity of the findings.