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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffYour child's doctor will ask about the symptoms. The doctor also may conduct a physical examination, including a digital rectal examination to check for impacted stool. During this exam, the doctor inserts a lubricated, gloved finger into your child's rectum while pressing on his or her abdomen with the other hand.
Your child's doctor also may recommend an abdominal X-ray to confirm the presence of impacted stool.
If the cause of encopresis is not a physical issue related to the colon, the doctor may recommend a psychological evaluation to help determine the cause.
- Parenting Corner Q&A: My child is way past toilet training, but he still soils his underwear. What should I do? American Academy of Pediatrics. http://www.aap.org/publiced/BK5_Soiling.htm. Accessed Sept. 10, 2008.
- Stool soiling and constipation in children. American Academy of Family Physicians. http://familydoctor.org/online/famcoden/home/children/parents/toilet/166.printerview.html. Accessed Sept. 10, 2008.
- Berkowitz CD. Encopresis. In: Berkowitz CD. Berkowitz's Pediatrics: A Primary Care Approach. 3rd ed. Washington D.C.: American Academy of Pediatrics; 2008:223-236.
- Stafford B, et al. Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders & Psychosocial Aspects of Pediatrics. In: Hay Jr. WW, et al. CURRENT Diagnosis & Treatment: Pediatrics. 19th edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3398994&searchStr=encopresis. Accessed Nov. 28, 2008.
- Nurcombe B. Developmental Disorders of Attachment, Feeding, Elimination, & Sleeping. In: Ebert MH, et al. CURRENT Diagnosis & Treatment: Psychiatry. 2nd edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3291880&searchStr=encopresis. Accessed Nov. 28, 2008.
- Vegetative Disorders: Elimination Disorders: Encopresis. In: Kliegman RM, et al. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th edition. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007.
- Ferry GD, et al. Definition, clinical manifestations, and evaluation of functional fecal incontinence in children. http://www.uptodate.com/online/content/topic.do?topicKey=pedigast/10533&selectedTitle=1~14&source=search_result. Accessed Nov. 28, 2008.
