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John E. McNeal, MD; David G. Bostwick, MD
Stanford University Medical Center Stanford, Calif

JAMA. 1984;251(7):890.

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

To the Editor.—

The MEDICAL NEWS report of the talk by McGuire at the American Urologic Association Convention¹ contained some statements that require clarification. The report indicated that a new smooth-muscle sphincter has been identified extending along the entire length of the prostatic urethra and that it is critical for the physiological control of continence.

In fact, this sphincter was first described 11 years ago in an autopsy study of the anatomy of the prostatic urethra.² In contrast to McGuire's findings, microscopic study showed that this sphincter is not homogeneous in composition. It is divided into two segments of equal length, and only the proximal segment is composed of smooth muscle. This segment was designated the preprostatic sphincter because its distal border, at the level of the base of the verumontanum, lies proximal to the orifices of all the major prostatic ducts. The distal half of the sphincter . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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