Etiology
FI is a sign or a symptom, not a diagnosis, and represents an extensive list of causes. For most patients, FI is the result of a complex interplay of several coexisting factors, many of which may be simple to correct. Deficits of individual functional components of the continence mechanism can be partially compensated for a certain period of time, until the compensating components themselves fail. For example, obstetric injury may precede the onset of FI by decades, but postmenopausal changes in the tissue strength reduce in turn the competence of the compensatory mechanisms. The most common factors in the development of FI are thought to be obstetric injury and after effects of anorectal surgery, especially those involving the anal sphincters and hemorrhoidal vascular cushions.
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