Hirschsprung's disease

Introduction: Hirschsprung's disease

Hirschsprung's disease: Hirschsprung's (HURSH-sprungz) disease, or HD, is a disease of the large intestine.

The large intestine is also sometimes ... more about Hirschsprung's disease.

Hirschsprung's disease: A rare condition where abnormalities in the bowel muscles prevent it from contracting normally and pushing the fecal matter through which results in obstruction and dilation of the bowel. More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Hirschsprung's disease is available below.

Symptoms of Hirschsprung's disease

• Constipation
• Stool impaction
• Anemia
• Symptoms in children include:
  • Constipation

See full list of 26 symptoms of Hirschsprung's disease

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Hirschsprung's disease:

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Medical Textbooks Online about Hirschsprung's disease

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Hirschsprung's disease

• Barium enema x-ray
• Colonoscopy
• Manometry
• Intestine biopsy

Read more about tests for Hirschsprung's disease

Wrongly Diagnosed with Hirschsprung's disease?

• Misdiagnosis of Hirschsprung's disease
• Underlying causes of Hirschsprung's disease (possibly wrongly diagnosed)

Misdiagnosis and Hirschsprung's disease

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Intestinal bacteria disorder may be hidden cause: One of the lesser known causes of diarrhea is an imbalance of bacterial in the gut, sometimes called intestinal imbalance. The digestive system contains a variety of "good"...read more »

Antibiotics often causes diarrhea: The use of antibiotics are very likely to cause some level of diarrhea in patients. The reason is that antibiotics kill off not only "bad" bacteria, but can also kill the "good" bacteria in the gut....read more »

Food poisoning may actually be an infectious disease: Many people who come down with "stomach symptoms" like diarrhea assume that it's "something I ate" (i.e. ...read more »

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Read more about Misdiagnosis and Hirschsprung's disease

Causes of Hirschsprung's disease

Read more about causes of Hirschsprung's disease.

More information about causes of Hirschsprung's disease:

• Hirschsprung's disease as a symptom

Treatments for Hirschsprung's disease

• Pull-through surgery - there are a few types of this surgery:
  • Swenson procedure
  • Soave procedure
  • Duhamel procedure
• Ostomy

See full list of 8 treatments for Hirschsprung's disease

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Patient Surveys for Hirschsprung's disease

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Types of Hirschsprung's disease

• Long-segment disease
• Short-segment disease

Read more about Types of Hirschsprung's disease

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Article Excerpts about Hirschsprung's disease

Hirschsprung's (HURSH-sprungz) disease, or HD, is a disease of the large intestine.

The large intestine is also sometimes called the colon. The word bowel can refer to the large and small intestines. HD usually occurs in children. It causes constipation, which means that bowel movements are difficult. Some children with HD can't have bowel movements at all. The stool creates a blockage in the intestine. (Source: excerpt from What I need to know about Hirschsprung's disease: NIDDK)

Definitions of Hirschsprung's disease:

Congenital MEGACOLON resulting from the absence of ganglion cells (aganglionosis) in a distal segment of the LARGE INTESTINE. The aganglionic segment is permanently contracted thus causing dilatation proximal to it. In most cases, the aganglionic segment is within the RECTUM and SIGMOID COLON. - (Source - Diseases Database)

Congenital condition in which the colon does not have the normal network of nerves; there is little urge to defecate so the feces accumulate and cause megacolon - (Source - WordNet 2.1)

Hirschsprung's disease is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that Hirschsprung's disease, or a subtype of Hirschsprung's disease, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)