Anal sphincter made of magnetic beads

The first Americans were implanted with titanium sphincters

Oleg Lischuk, N+1

Magnetic anal sphincters were implanted in American patients for the first time. The devices were received by four people with chronic fecal incontinence, according to a press release from the Mayo Clinic (Mayo Clinic First to Implant Device to Solve Fecal Incontinence).

All operations were performed at the Florida branch of the clinic in Jacksonville. Each intervention took about 45 minutes, and patients were discharged home the very next day after implantation.

The Fenix Continuity Restoration System device, developed by Torax Medical, is a titanium beads with a magnetic core strung on a flexible ring string made of the same metal. The system selected according to the size is surgically placed around the anal canal with the help of a special conductor, and the force of attraction of the individual segments maintains it in a closed state. When straining, the magnets diverge without interfering with defecation, after which they return to their original position. The device does not require configuration and power supplies.

The Fenix system was approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2015 after clinical trials involving 35 people. Its installation is indicated for patients with chronic fecal incontinence who have not been helped or are contraindicated by conservative (medications) or minimally invasive (injection of biocompatible fillers, radiofrequency ablation, sacral nerve stimulation) treatment.

According to surgeon Paul Pettit, who performed all four operations, fecal incontinence is most common in women – more than 20 percent of them have this condition after 45 years. As a rule, it is caused by damage to the muscles and nerves of the perineum during childbirth, operations on the rectum and its irradiation, as well as diabetes mellitus.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  09.06.2016