Small Intestine and Colon Flashcards
What are the main causes of mechanical bowel obstruction?
(epi)
major causes:
- hernia (most common globally)
- adhesions (most common US)
- intussuseption (most common in children)
- volvulus
- tumors (most common LBO)
less common:
-infarction
What is paralytic ileus?
What are the main causes?
Functional bowel obstruction:
-interupted passage of bowel contents due to imparied peristalsis
Causes:
- post-operative ileus (most common)
- hypokalemia
- hypothyroidism
- drugs (opioids, anticholinergics)
- infections
What are common symptoms of GI obstruction?
- abdominal pain
- distension
- constipation (w/ inability to pass gas)
- vomting
How does vomiting in GI obstruciton change with location of obstruction?
- non-bilious at pylorus
- bilious in SBO
- feculent in LBO (late)
What exam and imaging findings are associated with mechanical GI obstruction?
Exam:
- colicky pain
- distention
- high-pitched BS (early) -> absent BS (late)
Imaging:
- dilated loops of bowel proximally
- air-fluid levels
- collapsed bowel distally
- no air in rectum
What are hernias?
protrusions of portion of GI tract through a weakness/deformity in muscular wall of abdomen
most common casue of obstruction worldwide
What complications can occur with hernias?
- obstruction
- imapired venous drainage -> edema -> incarceration (can’t be manually reduced) -> strangulation (vascular compromise)
- > infarction (necrosis)
What is an adhesion?
fibrous bridge connecting connecting parts of GI tract with itself or to the abdominal wall
most common cause of obstruction in US
What are cause of adhesions?
Acquired:
- surgery/trauma (hence prominence in US)
- peritonitis
- endometirosis
Congenital:
-rare, but can still occur
What are complications of adhesions?
- obstruction
- formation of closed loops of bowel -> internal herniation (complications similar to external herniation)
What is a volvulus?
Where does it most commonly occur?
twisted loop of bowel on mesentary -> obstruction and strangulation/ischemia
- occurs in redundant loops of bowel
- sigmoid colon >>> cecum > midgut/SI
- can be caused by congenital intestinal malrotation
What is intussusecption?
(mechanism)
“telescoping” of bowel in on itself
-occurs at a lead point (anomoly in GI wall that restricts motion) during peristalsis; lead point does not dilate during peristalsis and collsapses into proximally dilated portion
- highly associated with immune reactions in Peyer’s patches of children (viral infections and rotovirus vaccine)
- can be associated with tumor/polyps in older groups
What are complications of intussusception?
- obstruction
- ischemia (mesentary trapped as well) -> infarction
What are the sources of blood supply of the GI tract?
- celiac artery
- superior mesenteric artery
- inferior mesenteric artery
What are the main causes of chronic and acute bowel ischemia?
Chronic (hypoperfusion related):
- cardiac failure
- shock
- dehydration
- vasoconstrictors
Acute (obstruction related):
- atherosclerosis
- AAA
- embolized cardiac vegetations
- venous thrombosis
How does the bowel respond to chronic and actue vascular compromise?
Chronic/progressive:
-numerous collaterals allow for adaptation
Acute:
-can cause large portions of bowel to become ischemic
How does acute bowel ischemia present?
What symptoms indicate surgery?
- periumbilical pain disproportionate to exam findings
- bloody diarrhea
- thumbprinting (ABD XR)
peritoneal signs/infarction indicate surgery:
- absent BS
- cessation of stools
- guarding/rebound
- shock
How does chronic bowel ischemia present?
“Abdominal angina”
- dull periumbilical pain
- worse with with increased GI activity -> worse following meals
- “food fear”
- weight loss
What factors affect severity of injury in ischemic bowel disease?
What causes the most damage in acute bowel ischemia?
- severity of compromise
- time of compromise
- vessel affected (more proximal or larger area supplied = worse)
- reperfusion injury: toxic substances from hypoxic injury and potentially the intenstial lumen enter blood stream causing systemic effects
What is angiodysplasia?
Where does it most commonly occur and what is is associated with?
abnormal tortuous, dilated blood vessels (typically veins) in the mucosa and submucosa
most common in cecum and ascending colon
associated with episodic GI bleeding later in life
What is diarrhea?
increase in one of the following:
-frequency (>3/day)
-water content (>75%)
-mass (>200mg/day) of stool
What are the types of diarrhea?
Exudative diarrhea:
- due to inflammation
- bloody, purulent stool
- persists with fasting
Secretory diarrhea:
- increased cAMP -> active secretion of water
- persists with fasting
Osmotic diarrhea:
- water drawn into stool by unabsorbed solutes in the lumen
- abates with fasting
Malabsorptive diarrhea:
- general malabsorption -> increased fat in stool; steatorrhea
- abates with fasting
What is malabsorption?
Mechanisms:
- impaired intraluminal digestion of macromolecules
- impaired terminal digestion of oligosaccharides/pepetides at intestinal surface
- impaired epithelial transport
- imparied lymph transport of lipids
failure of absorption of (one or multiple):
- fat
- fat/water soluble vitamins
- proteins
- carbohydrates,
- electrolytes/minerals
- water
What conditions cause malabsorption and associated diarrhea?
Maldigestion:
- pancreatitis/exocirne pancreatic insufficiency
- bile acid deficiency
- cystic fibrosis
- hypo/achlorhydria
Malabsorbtion:
- IDB (CD/UC)
- lactase deficiency/lactose intolerance
- abetalipoproteinemia
- environmental/autoimmune enteropathy
- infectious gastroenteritis
- Whipple
How do conditions of malabsorption typically present?
General malabsorptions:
- diarrhea, particularly steatorrhea
- weight loss (if chronic)
- distension
- flatulence
- associated deficiencies
Specific malabsorptions:
-varies, dependent on what is not absorbed or associated deficiency
What is cystic fibrosis?
genetic defect in Cl ion transporter, CFTR, found in exocrine glands as well as respiratory, GI, and reproductive epithelium -> imparied water transport and thickened secretions
What mechanism of malabsorbtion occurs in cystic fibrosis and how does it present?
Failed intraluminal digestion:
- pancreatic duct obstruction due to thickend secretions -> pancreatitis/exocrine pancreatic insufficiency -> carbs, lipids, and proteins not digested
- general malabsorption due to lack of digestive enzymes -> steatorrhea and malnutrition
- impaired water secretion into GI lumen -> viscid mucous -> obstruction
What is the mechanism of celiac disease?
gluten-sensitive, immune-mediated enteropathy:
- autoimmune reaction triggered by gluten leading to damage of intestinal epithelium
- gliadin trigger epithelial cells to release IL-15 -> activates CD8+ T cells expressing NKG2D
- NKG2D binds MIC-A expressed on stressed enterocytes -> cell-mediated damage of epithelium -> malabsorption
- gliadin also binds HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8 on APCs -> activate CD4+ T cells -> activate B cells -> production of anti-gliadin, anit-tTG, and anti-endomysial abs
What characteristics of celiac disease are used in its diagnosis?
(lab and histology)
Lab:
- anti-tTG IgA (gold standard)
- anti-endomysial IgA
- both high sens. and spec.
Histo:
- villous atrophy (loss of villi)
- crypt hyperplasia (elogation of crypts
- increased intraepithelial CD8+ T cells
- none are unique to celiac disease
What is the epidemiology of celiac disease?
Bimodal
Children:
- onset with introduciton of wheat products to diet ~6-24 months
- M=F
Adults:
- 30-40
- F>M
What are the clinical features of celiac disease in adults?
Classical:
- chronic diarrhea
- bloating/cramping
- malabsorption -> iron/vitamin deficiency -> anemia -> -chronic fatigue
What non-GI condition is associated with celiac disease?
dermatitis herpatiformis:
-autoimmune blistering disease associated with anti-tTG produced in celiac disease
What are the clinical features of celiac disease in children?
Often onsets at young age and pt may not be able to describe symptoms.
GI:
- chronic diarrhea/steatorrhea
- abdominal distension/pain -> irritability
- malabsorption -> failure to thrive/weight loss
Extraintestinal (impact of malabsorption on growth):
- arthritis
- growth restriction -> short
- delayed puberty
What causes many cases of celiac disease to go undetected/delay detection?
Most cases are atypical in their presentation, delaying testing for celiac disease
many cases are asymptomatic and go undetected
How is celiac disease treated?
No treatment available -> gluten-free diet to prevent symptoms