[Constipation. New therapeutic trends]

Surgical treatment is warranted only once medical management has proved unsuccessful and should preferably be preceded by psychological evaluation of the patient. So far, surgery has yielded few convincing results in view of the high percentage of failures. After surgery, many patients complain of abdominal pain and diarrhea. The contribution of surgery is highly important in patients suffering from "outlet obstruction", "inertia coli" or Hirschsprung's disease in whom myectomy or Duhamel's operation yield good results.