title: Anorectal manometry with water-perfused catheter in healthy adults with no functional bowel disorders.
abstract: Anorectal manometry provides an objective assessment of anal sphincter pressure and rectal sensitivity and anorectal reflexes in response to distension. However, its clinical utility is hampered by a lack of standardized protocols and normative data from healthy subjects. Previous studies have used water-perfused systems in normal subjects, but some adopted a rapid pull-through technique; others did not evaluate rectal sensations and others did not carefully exclude patients with functional bowel disorders. Objective To evaluate anorectal function in healthy adults without functional bowel disorders, using a water-perfused system with the stationary technique in order to obtain normative values for anorectal manometry. Method Fifty-two healthy volunteers with no Rome II diagnostic criteria for functional bowel disorders, including only nulliparous women, underwent anorectal manometry with a water-perfused system, according to a standardized protocol. Results Maximum squeeze pressure of the anal sphincter as well as the area under the pressure-time curve during squeeze was significantly lower in women than men (P < 0.01), while sphincter length, resting pressure, volume thresholds for reflex inhibitory recto-anal and rectal sensations were similar. Conclusions This study describes a protocol for stationary anorectal manometry using a water-perfused system, and a method for analysing the various parameters obtained during the procedure, as recently suggested in the international literature. It supplies normative data obtained in a population of healthy subjects including nulliparous women, with no functional bowel disorders.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001003:Anal Canal / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008365:Manometry / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011312:Pressure; D012007:Rectum / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values