Intussusception
Ah, intussusception, the Mississippi (at least in terms of spelling) of medicine - Brad Sobolewski MD
image by: Inferis
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Intussusception: The Common Emergency You Don’t Know About
The symptoms started abruptly.
We were in the car, my mom and I and my two young children, on a trip in Texas, in the middle of nowhere. Sam, the baby, started having bouts of wrenching screams every hour on the hour. Nothing could soothe him. He nursed, then spat everything up. Then he’d calm down, get tired, only to start up again, in pain. What could it be? My mother and I were mystified. Was it a new tooth? Food poisoning?
This went on for hours. And hours. And hours. Vomiting yellow liquid, screaming. And eventually, blood in his stool. “Emergency room,” Mom and I agreed.
I don’t blame the tiny county medical center for the misdiagnosis. It can happen. It…
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Gut-Wrenching
In the O.R., when the surgeon removed the damaged segment of small bowel, the cause of the problem became clear: The patient had what is known as a Meckel’s diverticulum. This is a common congenital abnormality — a remnant of a duct that normally provides nutrition to the embryo. In utero, it links what will become the umbilical cord to a primitive gastrointestinal tract and usually disappears before the fetus enters the second trimester.
Intussusception Part 1: The basics
Well, it is the #1 cause of intestinal obstruction in children 6 months to 36 months. So, its got that going for it, which is nice. Think about intussusception like a collapsible telescope. One piece of bowel – the proximal intussusceptum, usually the ileum, slides into another piece – the distal intussuscipiens – usually the colon and gets momentarily stuck.
My Day Friday- A Personal Story Intussusception
I am sharing a personal story. I have written this post out in my mind countless times this last week and every time it ends up with me crying. We will see if I can make it through.
Unravelling intussusception
Most intussusceptions affect the terminal end of the ileum being ileocolic in nature though the condition can be enteroenteric, appendiceal, appendiceal-ileocolic, ileocolic, colocolic and rectoanal...primarily affects infants and is the most common cause of bowel obstruction between the ages of 3 months to 3 years with occurrences peaking between 5 and 9 months.
Intussusception: The Common Emergency You Don’t Know About
The thing about intussusception, as I learned first hand, is that it’s easy to fix, but only if you know what it is and catch it soon enough. It disturbed me that I had never heard of it—and pretty much most people I talk to have never heard of it, either.
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