[Levator muscles pf the anus (levator ani). Normal or pathological cytoarchitecture of endorectal biopsies in man]

The structure and ultrastructure of normal or pathological needle biopsies of the human levator ani are studied. Disturbances of the muscular cyto-architecture: cellular degeneration with infiltration of glycogen and disorganization of the myofibrillar A, I and Z stripes are shown. The comparison between the histological data and the clinical results demonstrates that the quality of the levator ani is not always clearly defined by the clinic. The muscular biopsy reaches its main interest when in physical reeducation or in surgical correction of the incontinence, some doubt remains on the clinical value of the levator ani.