Hirschsprung's disease

Hirschsprung's disease involves an enlargement of the colon, caused by bowel obstruction resulting from an aganglionic section of bowel (the normal enteric nerves are absent) that starts at the anus and progresses upwards. The length of bowel that is affected varies but seldom stretches for more than a foot or so.

This disease is named for Harald Hirschsprung, the Danish physician who first described the disease in 1886.

The disease is congenital, but occasionally symptoms do not appear until early adulthood. In infants, the primary symptom is not passing meconium within the first 24 to 48 hours of life.

Definitive diagnosis is via rectal biopsy. Treatment is always surgical, with resection of the offending area, often with a colostomy performed before a second stage procedure to reanastomose the colon with the anus.

Health science - Medicine - Gastroenterology

Diseases of the esophagus - stomach

Halitosis - Nausea - Vomiting - GERD - Achalasia - Esophageal cancer; - Esophageal varices; - Peptic ulcer; - Abdominal pain; - Stomach cancer - functional dyspepsia;

Diseases of the liver - pancreas - gallbladder - biliary tree

Hepatitis - Cirrhosis - NASH - Budd-Chiari syndrome; - Hepatocellular carcinoma; - Pancreatitis - Pancreatic cancer - Gallstones - Cholecystitis

Diseases of the small intestine

Peptic ulcer; - Malabsorption (e.g. celiac disease;, lactose intolerance;, fructose malabsorption;, Whipple's disease;) - Lymphoma

Diseases of the colon

Diarrhea - Appendicitis - Diverticulitis - Diverticulosis - IBD (Crohn's disease; and Ulcerative colitis;) - Irritable bowel syndrome - Constipation - Colorectal cancer - Hirschsprung's disease; - Pseudomembranous colitis;