Blood in stool
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| Blood in stool |
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In medicine, when referring to human feces, blood in stool can refer to multiple conditions:
- Melena, with more blackish appearance, originating in upper parts of the gastrointestinal tract
- Hematochezia, with more red color, originating in latter parts of the gastrointestinal tract
The term is usually not used to describe fecal occult blood, which refers to a very low level of blood being found in the stool , that is such a low level that colour is not an indicator - It is found by a chemical test of some sort, as used by colon cancer screening programms.
In infants, the Apt test can be used to distinguish fetal hemoglobin from maternal blood.
List of causes of blood in the stool
Common causes of blood in the stool include:
- Colorectal cancer[1][2][3][4][5]
- Crohns disease[6]
- Ulcerative colitis[7]
- Other types of inflammatory bowel disease, inflammatory bowel syndrome, or ulceration
- Rectal or anal hemorrhoids or fissures, particularly if they rupture or are otherwise irritated[8]
- E. coli food poisoning[9]
- Necrotizing enterocolitis[10]
- Diverticulosis[11]
- Salmonellosis[12]
- Upper gastrointestinal bleeding[13]
- Peptic ulcer disease[14]
- Esophageal varices[15]
- Gastric cancer[16]
References
- ^ http://coloncancer.about.com/od/coloncancerbasics/a/colcansymptoms.htm
- ^ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/colon-cancer/ds00035/dsection=symptoms
- ^ http://fightcolorectalcancer.org/awareness/patients/treatment/symptoms-diagnosis/colorectal_cancer_symptoms?_kk=colon%20cancer%20symptoms&_kt=b231016a-3e0a-4cc8-8173-2b5d9e6f74d0&gclid=CJGPl6ro2Z8CFZdM5Qodn2ruGA
- ^ http://www.webmd.com/colorectal-cancer/guide/understanding-colorectal-cancer-symptoms
- ^ http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/digestive_disorders/inflammatory_bowel_diseases_ibd/crohns_disease.html
- ^ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/crohns-disease/DS00104/DSECTION=symptoms
- ^ http://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/ulcerative-colitis/ulcerative-colitis-topic-overview
- ^ https://health.google.com/health/ref/Hemorrhoids
- ^ http://www.about-ecoli.com/ecoli_symptoms_risks
- ^ https://health.google.com/health/ref/Necrotizing+enterocolitis
- ^ http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/digestive_disorders/diverticular_disease/diverticulitis.html
- ^ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/salmonella/DS00926/DSECTION=symptoms
- ^ http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/187857-overview
- ^ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/peptic-ulcer/DS00242/DSECTION=symptoms
- ^ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/esophageal-varices/DS00820/DSECTION=symptoms
- ^ http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/278744-overview
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