EVACUATION PROCTOGRAPHY - PHYSIOLOGICAL V ARIABILITY AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE OF THE ANORECTAL ANGLE AND THE POSITION OF THE PELVIC FLOOR

Evacuation proctography is an important imaging method for the investi gation of abnormalities of defecation. For this procedure, the most co mmonly carried out measurements are the ano-rectal angle and the posit ion of the pelvic floor. The given mean values and the physiologically acceptable deviations vary just as much as the perceived clinical val ue of these measurements. 173 evacuation proctograms were evaluated in a prospective study; the subjective abnormalities were correlated wit h clinical findings. No significant correlation between the measuremen ts from the proctograms and the clinical findings could be determined. The clinical relevance of these measurements is, therefore, uncertain .