Affiliations: [a] Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Pediatrics, Seattle Children’s Hospital, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA | [b] Colorectal and Pelvic Malformations Center, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Lusine Ambartsumyan, Gastrointestinal Motility Program, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Seattle Children’s Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. Tel.: +1 206 987 2290; Fax: +1 206 987 2721; E-mail: lusine.ambartsumyan@seattlechildrens.org.
Abstract: Spina bifida is a birth defect that commonly causes bowel and bladder dysfunction in children with a significant negative impact on quality of life and emotional wellbeing. Fecal continence improves satisfaction and the quality of life of both children and their caretakers. Bowel management in children with spina bifida is hampered by limited controlled studies and variable practice within different institutions and subspecialists. The goals of a successful bowel management program in children with spina bifida consist of predictable bowel movements, social continence, and eventual independence. Treatment options range from conservative interventions such as diets and oral laxatives that modify stool consistency and transit, to trans-anal irrigations and antegrade continence enemas that facilitate predictable recto-sigmoid emptying and provide a greater degree of independence. In children, the treatment approach should be implemented in the context of the child’s developmental age in order to allow for optimum social integration with their age-appropriate peers. We present a review of a stepwise approach to bowel management in children with spina bifida and the challenges related to the proposed treatment options.
