Surgical management of urinary and faecal incontinence in neurological sphincter disorders of children and adolescents.

The management of urinary and fecal incontinence in children and adolescents with neurogenic disorders related to congenital or acquired conditions was frequently considered to be of secondary importance compared with orthopaedic complications. The improvement of artificial urinary sphincter and continent urinary diversion techniques allowed to establish for each case an individual plan considering overall abilities and voiding dysfunction as well as renal complications. Antegrade colonic enema has greatly improved the quality of life of children with fecal incontinence or intractable constipation. Surgical management requires a large contribution by the patients and their closest relatives and complete information about goals, advantages and obligations of surgical management. Surgical principles for bladder augmentation, bladder neck reconstruction and continent urinary diversion are presented and discussed according to data in the recent literature and the author's clinical experience.