Biofeedback: a new modality in the management of children with fecal soiling.

Fifty children and adolescents who had severe fecal incontinence associated with either imperforate anus surgery in infancy or longstanding functional constipation were given biofeedback training for the purpose of achieving anal sphincter control. Feedback was in the form of oscilloscope tracings which the children learned to produce by contracting small air-filled balloons positioned at the internal and external anal sphincters. Forty-seven of these patients learned to have voluntary bowel movements, and 30 eliminated soiling accidents completely during follow-up periods ranging from six months to three years.