[Abdominal rectopexy in the treatment of rectal prolapse: how to foresee the functional result]

21 patients (19 women) who underwent rectal prolapse repair were prospectively studied. At the one year follow-up, 6 of the eleven incontinent patients (54 per cent) regained full continence and while three of the remaining 5 patients improved they still referred occasional imperfection of continence. Resting anal pressure and maximal squeeze pressure were both significantly lower in the five patients who remained incontinent, 23 (17-31) mm Hg vs 50 (31-52) mm Hg (p < = 0.02) and 52 (17-75) mm Hg vs 108 (89-110) mm Hg (p < = 0.02), respectively. Moreover the manometric results showed evidence that in patients who remained incontinent, the anal pressure in response to rectal distention, was significantly lower than patients who regained continence (p < = 0.05) both before and after operation. We conclude that incontinent patients with rectal prolapse who exhibit a markedly low minimal residual anal pressure on recto-anal reflex inhibition are less likely to improve after rectopexy and that this preoperative test may be a useful predictor.