Bristol Stool Scale
The Bristol Stool Scale or Bristol Stool Chart is a medical aid designed to classify the form of human feces into seven categories. Sometimes referred to in the UK as the "Meyers Scale",[citation needed] it was developed by Dr. Ken Heaton at the University of Bristol and was first published in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology in 1997.[1] The authors of that paper concluded that the form of the stool is a useful surrogate measure of colon transit time. That conclusion has since been challenged as having limited validity, and only in types 1 and 2 when the subject is not constipated.[2] However, it remains in use as a research tool to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments for various diseases of the bowel, as well as a clinical communication aid.
The seven types of stool are:
- Type 1: Separate hard lumps, like nuts (hard to pass)
- Type 2: Sausage-shaped, but lumpy
- Type 3: Like a sausage but with cracks on its surface
- Type 4: Like a sausage or snake, smooth and soft
- Type 5: Soft blobs with clear cut edges (passed easily)
- Type 6: Fluffy pieces with ragged edges, a mushy stool
- Type 7: Watery, no solid pieces. Entirely liquid
Types 1-3 indicate constipation, with 4 and 5 being the "ideal stools", especially the former, as they are easy to defecate while not containing any excess liquid, and 6 and 7 tending towards diarrhoea.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Lewis SJ, Heaton KW (1997). "Stool form scale as a useful guide to intestinal transit time". Scand. J. Gastroenterol. 32 (9): 920–4. doi:10.3109/00365529709011203. PMID 9299672.
- ^ Rao SS, Camilleri M, Hasler WL, Maurer AH, Parkman HP, Saad R, Scott MS, Simren M, Soffer E, Szarka L. (2011). "Evaluation of gastrointestinal transit in clinical practice: position paper of the American and European Neurogastroenterology and Motility Societies.". Neurogastroenterol Motil. 23 (1): 8–23. PMID 21138500.
- ^ Monastyrsky, Konstantin (2009). Gut Sense: How to Reverse and Prevent Constipation and Irregularity in Children and Adults. Ageless Press. ISBN 0-9706796-5-3. http://www.gutsense.org/.
