The Artificial Bowel Sphincter in the Treatment of Fecal Incontinence, Long-term Complications.

Background: Fecal incontinence is a common and debilitating condition, of which the prevalence increases with age. Several medical and minimally invasive treatment modalities are available. However, for patients with greater sphincter defects, these treatments are often not sufficient.

Long-term outcome of sacral neuromodulation for chronic refractory constipation.

Purpose: Sacral neuromodulation has been reported as a treatment for severe idiopathic constipation. This study aimed to evaluate the long-term effects of sacral neuromodulation by following patients who participated in a prospective, open-label, multicentre study up to 5 years.

Methods: Patients were followed up at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months.

Medium-term outcome of sacral nerve modulation for constipation.

Background: Sacral nerve modulation has been reported as a minimally invasive and effective treatment for constipation refractory to conservative treatment.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and sustainability of sacral nerve modulation for constipation in the medium term (up to 6 years) and to investigate potential predictors of treatment success.

Design: We performed a retrospective review of prospectively collected data.

Effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy on angiogenesis and leukocyte infiltration in rectal cancer.

Background: We and others have shown that angiogenesis and leukocyte infiltration are important prognostic factors in rectal cancer. However, little is known about its possible changes in response to radiotherapy (RTX), which is frequently given to rectal tumors as a neoadjuvant treatment to improve the prognosis. We therefore investigated the biologic effects of RTX on these parameters using fresh-frozen biopsy samples of tumor and normal mucosa tissue before and after RTX.