What is a gastrinoma? A gastrinoma is a tumor that secretes the hormone gastrin. Normally gastrin is secreted by certain cells in the pancreas, duodenum and stomach. The hormone gastrin stimulates the stomach to produce gastric acid. A gastrinoma secretes large amounts of gastrin. This causes an oversecretion of stomach >> Read More ...
What is a megacolon? Megacolon is a condition where the colon of the large intestine becomes wider than normal. This distension can also affect the cecum and extend to the rectum. The proper term for this widening is ‘dilatation’. It is not an increase in length but a dilated portion of the colon while other >> Read More ...
What is lower gastrointestinal bleeding? Lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB) is loss of blood from the lower part of the gut, namely the large intestine and to a lesser extent the ileum of the short intestine. Although lower gastrointestinal bleeding is less common than upper gastrointestinal bleeding, it can lead to >> Read More ...
What is a small intestine leak? A small intestine leak is the common term for a perforation (hole) in the small intestine. The term is sometimes confused with leaky gut syndrome, a condition that supposedly increases the permeability of the intestinal wall. With a perforation an actual hole develops thereby allowing the >> Read More ...
Sudden Stress and Bowel Incontinence It is known that strong fear, unpleasant surprise, pain, gross scene or other strong stimuli or feelings may cause temporary bowel incontinence – an inability to prevent the passage of the stool. Strong sensory stimuli may cause excitation of the vagus nerve and pelvic nerves >> Read More ...
What Is Ischemic Colitis? Ischemic colitis is inflammation of the colon ( a part of the large intestine) due to impaired blood flow (colonic ischemia), usually appearing in persons after 50 years of age. This may trigger sudden (acute) or long term (chronic) abdominal pain, blood in the stool and diarrhea. Injury of >> Read More ...
Acute Ischemic Colitis Acute ischemic colitis refers to an inflammation of the colon (a part of the large intestine) due to impairment of the blood flow to the colon. Sudden left side abdominal pain and blood in the bowel movement, appearing in a person after 50 years of age, are characteristic symptoms. The resulting >> Read More ...
Who Is at Risk to Get Traveler’s Diarrhea? Travelers are at risk of diarrhea, when they move from a high hygiene area to low hygiene areas. For western travelers, high risk areas are: Africa, South Asia, Central and South America, Caribbean and the Pacific islands. Prevention of Traveler’s Diarrhea 1. >> Read More ...
Cancers Causing Diarrhea The following cancers can (rarely) cause diarrhea: Spread of any tumor (metastasis) into any abdominal organ Hormone-producing tumors causing carcinoid syndrome (read below) or Zollinger-Ellison syndrome(pancreatic or duodenal cancer secreting large amounts of gastrin resulting in peptic ulcers, >> Read More ...
