Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract
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J. Gastrointest. Surg. · Jul 2010
Multicenter StudyInfection rates in a large investigational trial of sacral nerve stimulation for fecal incontinence.
Treatment options for patients with fecal incontinence (FI) are limited, and surgical treatments can be associated with high rates of infection and other complications. One treatment, sacral nerve stimulation (SNS), is approved for FI in Europe. A large multicenter trial was conducted in North America and Australia to assess the efficacy of SNS in patients with chronic fecal incontinence. The aim of this report was to analyze the infectious complication rates in that trial. ⋯ SNS for FI resulted in a relatively low infection rate. This finding is especially important because the only other Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for end-stage FI, the artificial bowel sphincter, reports a much higher rate. Combined with its published high therapeutic success rate, this treatment has a positive risk/benefit profile.