Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 14, 2024; 30(6): 516-522
Published online Feb 14, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i6.516
Diagnostic tools for fecal incontinence: Scoring systems are the crucial first step
Peter Liptak, Martin Duricek, Peter Banovcin
Peter Liptak, Martin Duricek, Peter Banovcin, Clinic of Internal Medicine- Gastroenterology, University Hospital in Martin, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University, Martin 03601, Slovakia
Author contributions: Liptak P, Duricek M and Banovcin P wrote the manuscript evenly; Liptak P coordinated the manuscript preparation; Banovcin P supervised the preparation process.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Peter Banovcin, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Director, Clinic of Internal Medicine- Gastroenterology, University Hospital in Martin, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University, Kollarova 2, Martin 03601, Slovakia. neurogastromartin@gmail.com
Received: October 31, 2023
Peer-review started: October 31, 2023
First decision: December 7, 2023
Revised: December 15, 2023
Accepted: January 15, 2024
Article in press: January 15, 2024
Published online: February 14, 2024
Processing time: 96 Days and 18.8 Hours
Abstract

The main aim of this editorial is to comment on the recent article published by Garg et al in the World Journal of Gastroenterology 2023; 29: 4593-4603. This original research presents a new scoring system for fecal incontinence. Fecal incontinence is a chronic disease with a severe impact on the quality of life of the patients. Substantial social stigmatization often leads to significant underreporting of the condition even during visits to a specialist and could lead to further mismanagement or non-existent management of the disease. An important fact is that patients are often unable to describe their condition when not asked precisely defined questions. This problem is partially resolved by scoring questionnaires. Several scoring systems are commonly used; however, each of them has their shortcomings. For example, the absence of different kinds of leakage besides flatus and stool could further lead to underscoring the incontinence severity. Therefore, there has long been a call for a more precise scoring system. The correct identification of the presence and severity of fecal incontinence is paramount for further diagnostic approach and for choosing the appropriate therapy option. This editorial describes fecal incontinence, its effect on quality of life in general and further evaluates the diagnostic approach with a particular focus on symptom scoring systems and their implications for clinical practice.

Keywords: Incontinence; Fecal; Scoring system; Questionary; Quality of life

Core Tip: The main aim of this editorial is to comment on the recent article published by Garg et al in the World Journal of Gastroenterology 2023; 29: 4593-4603. This original research present new scoring system for fecal incontinence. Fecal incontinence is a chronic disease with severe impact on quality of life of the patients. There is a long existing call for more precise scoring system than those in current use. The correct identification of presence and severity of fecal incontinence is paramount for further diagnostic approach and for choosing the appropriate therapy option.