ArticleGastroenterology research2019
Can Baseline Electromyography Predict Response to Biofeedback for Anorectal Disorder? A Long-Term Follow-Up Study.
Article in Gastroenterology research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBiofeedback has been recommended for the treatment of anorectal disorders, especially constipation and fecal incontinence (FI). The objective of this study was to assess the long-term efficacy of biofeedback and evaluate baseline electromyography (EMG) as a predictor for maintenance of long-term improvement.
methodsA retrospective chart review was performed on randomly selected patients who underwent biofeedback between the years 1990 and 2000. Clinical characteristics, including EMG values at baseline (resting and contraction) as well as EMG after exercises, were collected. Patients were contacted and were classified as "improved" if they had self-reported symptomatic improvement and "not-improved" if their symptoms were unchanged or worsened.
resultsA total of 41 subjects were included. Majority (85.4%) were female, the mean age was 48.95 ± 15.46 (range 22 - 77 years) and the median follow-up was 4 years (range 4 - 5 years). Constipation was the primary indication for biofeedback in 27/41 (65.9%), FI in 9/41 (22%) and "other" in 5/41 (12.1%). Within constipation, 55.6% reported long-term improvement as compared to 66.7% of FI and 80% of the other patients. There was borderline difference in the baseline EMG (3.11 ± 1.85 µV, improved, and 7.41 ± 11.01 µV, not improved, P = 0.06) but no significant difference in post-exercise resting (3.13 ± 3.21 µV, improved, and 4.28 ± 3.63 µV, not improved, P = 0.33) and contraction EMG between the two groups.
conclusionsBiofeedback is an important treatment tool in anorectal disorders. Over 50% of our subjects maintained their improvement 4 - 5 years after completing biofeedback therapy. A lower resting baseline EMG showed a trend of association with improvement in the long term.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.