ABSTRACT
Anal incontinence due to trauma other than obstetric or iatrogenic lesions is uncommon. Sexual trauma caused by insertion of foreign bodies into the rectum and sexual abuse of children may lead to injury with tears of the anal sphincters. In most series of traumatic anal incontinence, patients with nonobstetric, noniatrogenic lesions constitute less than 10%. In contrast to obstetric and iatrogenic trauma, this group of patients often presents complicated lesions of the anal sphincters requiring more elaborate surgical procedures. Anal incontinence due to trauma other than obstetric or iatrogenic lesions is rarely analyzed in the literature, but constitutes roughly one third of the patients in series where special surgical techniques, such as gracilis or gluteus maximus transposition, are necessary for restoration of anal continence. A special group of trauma that may result in anal incontinence is spinal lesions. Even though voluntary contraction of the external anal sphincter is not possible, anal incontinence is rarely a problem.
