CSI 16- Diarrhoea Flashcards
Define diarrhoea?
Three or more loose or liquid stools per 24 hours, and/or
Stools that are more frequent than what is normal for the individual lasting <14 days, and/or
Stool weight greater than 200 g/day.
Based on duration how can you further classify diarrhoea ?
Acute (less than 14 days)
Persistent (more than 14 days), or
Chronic (more than 4 weeks).
How much fluid do we reabsorbe each day and how does diarrhoea affec this?
10 L of fluid
Mostly reabsorbed at small bowel.
overall (in both small and large bowel) 99% of fluid is reabsorbed leaving 0.1 L in feaces
Diarhheoa interferes with this process which can result in :
- Decreased absorption of fluid or
- Increased secretion of fluid and electrolytes or
- increase in bowel motility
what are the origins of the 10L of fluid entering the GI tract everyday
salivary glands, stomach, pancreas, bile ducts, and duodenum
Extensiviely classify diarrheoa
Inflammatory - can be infectious or non infectious
Non-inflammatory
- Secretory or
- Osmotic
- Mal digestion
- Mal absorption
what is inflammatory diarrhoea? what causes it and what are the symptoms nornmally associated with it
Inflammatory process going on it could be due to :
- bacterial, viral or parasitic infection or develop early in the course of bowel ischeamia/ radiation injury/ IBD
Associated symptoms are:
- Mucoid and bloody stool
- Tenesmus (feeling like you need to pass stool)
- fever
- severe crampy abdominal pain
What are the features of infectious inflammatoruy diarrhoea
Small in volume with freqent bowel movements
Does NOT reuslt in volume depletion in adults but maybe for kids or older people
what are the causes of infectious inflammatory diarrheoa?
Bacterial infections like:
- Campylobacter
- Salmonella
- Shigella
- Escherichia coli
- C.difficile
Virus more common in kids who go to day care
Protozoa and parasites - common casuse of acute diarrheoa in developing countries
what are the examination results for inflammatory diarrhoea?
what should you be wary of?
what will the histology of GI tract show?
Stool culture- show leukocytes
Feacel occult blood may be postiive.
Feacal occult has a high chance to be false negative (low sensitivity) but positive is very informative.
Histology is abnormal
what are the features of non-inflammatory diarhoea?
Very large volume, watery stool
Frequent stool like between 10 and 20 a day
Volume depletion very possible
NO tenesmus, blood in stool, fever or feacal leukocytes
Histology of GI tract is preserved
what are the features of secretory diarhhoea and what causes it?
Due to altered transport across mucosa leading to increased secretion and decreased absorption of fluids and electrolytes from the GI tract (small bowel mainly)
Not improved by fasting
Causes could be :
- enterotoxins
- Hormonal agents
- Laxative use
- intestinal resection
- bile salts
- fatty acids
The causes of secretory diarrhoea are enterotoxins and hormonal agents.
what are the sources of these causes
Enterotoxins - infection from:
- Vibrio cholerae
- S.aureus
- enterotoxigenic E.coli
- Possibly HIV and rotavirus
Hormonal agents :
- VIP
- small- cell lung cancer
- neuroblastoma
what other conditions would you see secretory diarrheoa
chronic diarrhoea with coeliac disease
collagenous colitis
hyperthyroidism
carcinoid tumours
what are the features of osmotic diarrhoea?
Stool volume lower than secretory diarrhoea
DIarhhoea improves or stops with fasting
Results from presence of unabsorbed or poorly absorbed solutes like Mg, sorbitol and mannitol. This leads to in increased secretion of fluids into GI tract
Stool electrolyte shows increased osmotic gap of more than 50 but the test isn’t very useful
Stool whether normal or diarrheoa is always isosmotic (260-290 mOsm/L)
what are the fesatures and causes of maldigestion (osmotic diraahoea)
refers to impaired digestion of nutrients within the intestinal lumen or at the brush border membrane of mucosal epithelial cells.
can be seen in:
- pancreatic exocrine insufficiency
- lactase deficiency
what are the features and casues of Malabsorption (osmotic diarrhoea)
refers to impaired absorption of nutrients.
Can be seen in:
- Small bowel bacterial overgrowth
- mesenteric ischeamia
- post bowel resection (short bowel syndrome)
- mucosal disease- celiac
what are the main symptoms of Crohns disease and when does it come
The symptoms usually start in childhood or early adulthood.
The main symptoms are:
- diarrhoea
- stomach aches and cramps- often in lower right quadrant
- blood in your stool
- tiredness (fatigue)
- weight loss
The symptoms may be constant or may come and go every few weeks or months. When they come back, it’s called a flare-up
when is it a good time to see a GP? what symptoms are pre-requisite for it.
See a GP if you or your child have:
- blood in your stool
- diarrhoea for more than 7 days
- frequent stomach aches or cramps
- lost weight for no reason, or your child’s not growing as fast as you’d expect.
GP will try to determine cause of symtpoms to see if it’s Crohns
what are the treatments for Crohns
No cure for it but there are other meds:
medicines to reduce inflammation in the digestive system – usually steroid tablets
medicines to stop the inflammation coming back – either tablets or injections
surgery to remove a small part of the digestive system – sometimes this may be a better treatment option than medicines.
GP, specialist nurse or doctors over see this
what are the causes of Crohns
Exact cause is unknown but several factors play a role:
- genes – you’re more likely to get it if a close family member has it
- a problem with the immune system that causes it to attack the digestive system
- smoking
- a previous stomach bug
- an abnormal balance of gut bacteria
NO PARTICULAR DIET causes it
Crohns is hard to diagnose - similar symptoms to other disease. what Diagnostic will the GP carry out
Full history
- HPC
- DHx, FHx
- Travel
Abdo exam
IXs:- blood and stool sample tested for signs of inflammation or infection