The importance of defecography in the assessment of the etiology of chronic constipation: An analysis of 630 patients.

OBJECTIVE Chronic constipation is an entity with a high prevalence in the community. In our study, we analyzed the importance of defecography in the assessment of the etiology of chronic constipation. MATERIAL AND METHODS Patients who were admitted to our hospital outpatient general surgery clinic with complaints of constipation between July 2010 and January 2014, and who had their demographic data and defecography results recorded were included in the study. The demographic data of patients who underwent defecography and their results were recorded along with patient gender and age. RESULTS The defecography was abnormal in 573 patients (90.9%) while it was normal in 57 patients (9.1%). CONCLUSION Defecography is the current standard method of examination in etiological investigations for constipation, and it should be performed in each patient with a diagnosis of chronic constipation.