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Non-Manometric Biofeedback for Idiopathic Faecal Retention in Childhood: A Case Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2009

Peter Griffiths
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Stirling
Harriet Livingstone
Affiliation:
Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow

Abstract

Biofeedback by means of an anorectal probe or balloon linked to a manometric apparatus can be an effective treatment for childhood faecal retention associated with inappropriate external anal sphincter coordination (obstipation). We report an alternative biofeedback approach in a child with long-standing obstipation. Sphincter tone was detected by digitization instead of manometrically and information on the state of the muscle relayed orally, the child's mother acting as trainer and working at home. Five years of dependency on purgatives for bowel evacuation was reversed in three weeks of this regime. Carer-mediated biofeedback by digitization may prove a low-technology alternative to manometric methods where suitable equipment is unavailable.

Type
Clinical Section
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 1997

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