Fecaloma

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

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,

Pathophysiology

A fecaloma occurs whenever chronic obstruction of transit of feces occurs.

Cuases

, 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 (catheters which carry a flow of disimpaction fluid (solvent).

Natural History, Complications and Prognosis

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 usually the cause of acute appendicitis.

See also

• Fecal impaction

References

Creason N, Sparks D. Fecal impaction: a review. Nurs Diagn. 2000 Jan-Mar;11(1):15-23. Review. PMID 10847055 it:Fecaloma