Fecaloma
4034323
221593951
2008-06-25T05:38:18Z
70.203.133.130
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| ICD9 = {{ICD9|560.39}}
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A '''fecaloma''' (meaning a tumor made of [[feces]], also called '''fecalith''' and '''coprolith''', i.e., stones made of feces) is a hardening of feces into stones of varying size inside the [[Colon (anatomy)|colon]], which may appear whenever chronic obstruction of transit occurs, such as in [[megacolon]] and chronic [[constipation]]. Some diseases, such as [[Chagas disease]], [[Hirschsprung's disease]] and others provoke the destruction of the [[autonomic nervous system]] inside the colon's [[mucosa]] ([[Auerbach's plexus]]) and may cause extremely large (giant) fecalomas, which must be surgically removed (disimpaction). Normally, however, fecalomas can be manually disimpacted or by passing colonic tubes ([[catheter]]s which carry a flow of disimpaction fluid (solvent).
Fecal impaction may have severe and even lethal effects, such as the rupture of the colon's walls by acute angles of the fecalomas ([[stercoral perforation]]), followed by [[septicemia]]. A fecolith is also known to cause acute [[appendicitis]].
==See also==
*[[Fecal impaction]]
''Coprolith'' is also used to mean fossilized feces.
==References==
Creason N, Sparks D. Fecal impaction: a review. ''Nurs Diagn.'' 2000 Jan-Mar;11(1):15-23. Review. PMID 10847055
[[Category:Gastroenterology]]
[[Category:Feces]]
[[es:Fecaloma]]
[[it:Fecaloma]]