Diarrhoea Flashcards
1
Q
What defines diarrhoea?
A
- 3 or more watery stools per day
2
Q
Whar defines an altered bowel habit?
A
-A change in bowel habit is any alteration in the patient’s regular bowel function
3
Q
Differential Diagnosis of changes in bowel habit:
A
- Infective gastroenteritis
- Coeliac disease
- Bowel cancer
- Ulcerative colitis
- Irritable bowel syndrome
4
Q
Define acute diarrhoea
A
- an abnormally frequent discharge of semisolid or fluid faecal matter from the bowel, lasting less than 14 days.
5
Q
Define constipation
A
infrequent bowel movements (typically three times or fewer per week) and difficulty during defecation
6
Q
Best investigation into diarrhoea
A
- Stool culture
- If foreign travel recently request parasite check
7
Q
Mechanisms of diarrhoea?
A
- Osmotic
- Altered motility
- Inflammatory
- Secretory
8
Q
Explain osmotic diarrhoea
A
- poor absorption of certain molecules
- leads to excessve amounts of solutes in lumen
- causes fluid retention
9
Q
Give an example of a disease that caueses osmotic diarrhoea?
A
- lactose intolerance
10
Q
Explain inflammatory diarrhoea
A
- immune mediated damage to epithelail lining
- impairs absoptive ability
