Antegrade continence enemas improve quality of life in patients with medically-refractory encopresis.

Purpose: Fecal incontinence is a socially debilitating problem for many children. We hypothesized that in selected patients with medically-refractory encopresis, placement of an appendicostomy or cecostomy tube for administration of antegrade continence enemas (ACE) would improve quality of life (QOL).

Methods: We reviewed all patients with encopresis who underwent appendicostomy or cecostomy placement from 2003 to 2014 at our institution.