Patients' symptoms were significantly alleviated by both operative techniques. The transanal technique was associated with more clinically diagnosed recurrences of rectocele and/or enterocele. Adverse effects on sexual life were avoided by use of both techniques.

Posterior rectopexy with mesh gave good results in our hands. Older age and longer follow-up seem to have a negative effect on the functional outcome of the operation and on the recurrence rate.

Three (0.7 percent) cases of verified and seven (1.7 percent) cases of suspected HNPCC were identified, following the evaluation of all families with features indicative of susceptibility to cancer. The proportion of identifiable risk factors of CRC was 5.8-7.5 percent (HNPCC, 0.7-2.4 percent; previous CRC, 3.4 percent; ulcerative colitis, 1.0 percent; familial adenomatous polyposis coli, 0.7 percent). CONCLUSION. This prospective multicenter study revealed that the frequency of hereditary colorectal cancer is lower than in some previous studies, when diagnosis is based on extensive pedigree analysis. This result with recent findings of common ancestral founding mutation in Finnish HNPCC families indicates that there may be geographic differences in the occurrence of HNPCC. However, this does not change the fact that identification of HNPCC--perhaps one of the most common inherited diseases identified in humans--has become a question of vital importance now when diagnosis of the syndrome and large-scale screening of gene carriers using specific tests are on the horizon.

No abstract

Anal manometric measurements were performed on 25 patients suffering from partial or total anal incontinence. Eleven patients were partially incontinent, and 14, totally incontinent. Compared with age- and sex-matched controls, both incontinent groups had significantly lower maximum basal pressure (MBP) and maximum squeeze pressure (MSP). Comparing the totally incontinent group with the partially incontinent group, the former had significantly lower MBP, but MSP did not differ significantly. The patients could also be grouped according to different manometric patterns, and it was shown that if both basal and squeeze pressures were low, the patients were prone to be totally incontinent. If only the voluntary function, MSP was low, the patients were most likely partially incontinent.