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Case Report and Review of the Literature

WALTER G. WOLFE, MD; DONALD SILVER, MD

AMA Arch Surg. 1966;92(5):715-717.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

ALTHOUGH it is impossible to estimate the numbar of enemas administered each year, one would suspect that it is a significant and growing number. The vast majority of enemas produce their desired effect without any accompanying complications. However, laceration and rupture of the rectum have been reported following the administration of enemas.^1-7 Occasionally, rectal bleeding is associated with trauma, but it rarely is profuse and rarely occurs as the presenting sign of laceration or rupture.

Large and Mukheiber reported a case of laceration of the rectum following enema administration and reviewed 30 other cases that had been reported in the English literature.¹ In none of these cases was there excessive bleeding. Turell, in reviewing his experience with rectal perforations following an enema, reported only two cases where surgical intervention was necessary because of bleeding,³ and Szunyorgh had only one case where bleeding was the presenting sign.⁷ . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
DURHAM, NC

From the Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham.

Footnotes
Submitted for publication Jan 19, 1966.

Reprint requests to Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27706 (Dr. Silver).

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