대한대장항문학회

Purpose: Recently, analytical studies of the various parameters of rectoanal inhibitory reflex were reported and revealed that many of the parameters showed significant differences according to the anal continence function. The standardization of these studies is, however, not yet sufficient enough to apply to use those parameters in reflex test for clinical practice. The aim of this study was to check how the parameters react differently to various degrees of rectal distention and to determine the efficacy of each parameter in clinical applications of rectoanal inhibitory reflex. Methods: Thirty-two subjects underwent repeated manometries for rectoanal inhibitory reflex with different volumes (40, 60, 80 cc) of rectal ballooning. Latencies, amplitudes, slopes, durations, and areas under the reflex curves of the reflexes were measured, and the differences among them according to the ballooning volume in each subject were analyzed statistically. Results: The area under reflex curve, the amplitude, the duration, and the slope did not differ statistically with the ballooning volume (P values were 0.3959, 0.2142, 0.2080, 0.1453, respectively, by repeated measures two way ANOVA). However, the latencies did differ significantly (P=0.0131). Conclusions: Most of the parameters except latency were stable against different volumes of rectal ballooning. Among the stable parameters, the area under the reflex curve seemed to be the most useful in clinical applications of rectoanal inhibitory reflex. J Korean Soc Coloproctol 2005;21:1-5