Trial reportColorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland2022
The anorectal defaecation reflex: a prospective intervention study.
Trial report in Colorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Determining the optimal ropivacaine concentration for spinal anaesthesia during day surgery for anorectal procedures: a dose-finding study.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- The anorectal defaecation reflex: a prospective intervention study.Colorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland · 2022Trial
- Long-Term Clinical and Physiological Outcomes in Patients Treated Non-Surgically for Anorectal Malformations.Neurogastroenterology and motility · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimOur hypothesis is that there may be a neural pathway with sensory afferent neurons in the anal canal that leads to rectal contraction to assist defaecation. We aimed to compare rectal motility between healthy participants with or without anal anaesthesia.
methodThis prospective intervention study consisted of two test sessions: a baseline session followed by an identical second session. During each session we performed the anal electrosensitivity test, the rectoanal inhibitory reflex test and rapid phasic barostat distensions. Prior to the second session, participants were randomly assigned to receive either a local anal anaesthetic or a placebo.
resultsWe included 23 healthy participants aged 21.1 ± 0.5 years, 13 of whom received an anal anaesthetic and 10 a placebo. All participants showed a transient rectal contraction during the first test session, which decreased significantly after anal anaesthesia (18.6 ml vs. 4.9 ml, p = 0.019). The maximum rectal contraction was comparable to the baseline results in the placebo group. Furthermore, the electrosensitivity at the highest centimetre of the anal canal correlated with the maximum rectal contraction (r = -0.452, p = 0.045).
conclusionAll healthy study participants display an involuntary, reproducible rectal reflex contraction that appears to be innervated by afferent nerves in the proximal anal canal. The rectal reflex contraction appears to play a role in defaecation and we therefore refer to this phenomenon as the anorectal defaecation reflex. Knowledge of the anorectal defaecation reflex may have consequences for the diagnostics and treatment of constipation.
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