This term is offered to serve a similar role as the term halitosis does at the cephalad terminus of the gastrointestinal tract. Just as halitosis encompasses any malodor issuing from the mouth, and not just those conditions which cause halitosis originating in the oral cavity, but also respiratory and blood borne causes of halitosis; rectal malodor encompasses any malodorous substance passed rectally, and can represent either inappropriate expression of physiologically malodorous substances, or passage of pathologically malodorous substances, or indeed maldorous perianal conditions. The causes of rectal malodor are not necessarily confined to the colorectal region.