Digestive system >>>> Megacolon
Megacolon.
Congenital anomaly or acquired hypertrophied development of individual segments or the entire colon is called "megacolon". The large intestine acquires a much larger volume compared to the anatomical norm, lengthens, thickens its walls, expands the lumen. In congenital anomalies, the etiological factor causing colon hypertrophy is the underdevelopment of the innervation of the colon walls. Acquired megacolon develops as a result of a tumor, trauma, scarring of the tissue of the walls of the colon, or other cause of narrowing of the lumen of the colon.
Megacolon leads to impaired motor function of the large intestine throughout its entire length or in individual segments (Hirschsprung disease). With mechanical obstacles, the upper sections of the large intestine expand as a result of impaired movement of feces and their accumulation in the upper sections. The musculature of the walls of the large intestine hypertrophies and over time, individual fibers are destroyed, being replaced by connective tissue, which causes atony of the intestinal walls. With megacolon, as a result of prolonged retention of feces in the intestinal lumen, intoxication and intestinal dysbiosis develop.
Signs of a megacolon:
- Long-term constipation,
- Increased gas formation,
- Pain in the intestines,
- Increased abdominal volume,
- Vomiting.
Treatment of megacolon is rarely conservative (only in the initial stages of its development or as a prophylaxis for the further development of the disease in the postoperative period) and implies dietary nutrition with a large amount of fibrous food, probiotic cultures (lactobacillus, bifidobacteria and colibacteria), taking drugs - motility modulators intestines. With a developed clinical picture, megacolon involves surgical intervention with the aim of excising areas of the hypertrophied colon. The volumes of excision of the affected areas of the large intestine depend on the stage of development of the disease and the form of its course.
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