The inability to control bowel’s movement.
Pertaining to the excrement discharged from the intestine (feces).
Inability to control defecation.
The inability to retain feces in the rectum and control defecation. Fecal incontinence is less common than urinary incontinence. Temporary fecal incontinence can occur at any age during bouts of severe diarrhea. Chronic inability to control the bowel occurs more frequently in older people because the efficiency of muscle sphincters declines with age. It is also found in people with nervous system disease or damage, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, or diabetes. Fecal incontinence also can occur if the anal sphincter muscles are damaged by childbirth, trauma, cancer of the rectum, or surgery. Fecal impaction (accumulation of hard feces in the rectum) can cause incontinence when fluid and new feces pass around the impacted mass.