Video:Bowel Blockages
with Dr. Alyse BellomoBowel blockages can be caused by a few different factors and are very serious when they occur. Here's a video overview of bowel blockages.See Transcript
Transcript:Bowel Blockages
Hi, I'm Alyse Bellomo, a gastroenterologist, and today for About.com, we will be talking about bowel obstruction.
Causes of Bowel Blockages
The colon is part of the digestive system that moves waste from the small intestine to the rectum. The small intestine extracts nutrients from what you have eaten and passes the waste on to the large intestine. The major causes of bowel blockage are tumors, or masses, or adhesions which are scar tissue which may cause kinks in the colon. Sometimes, the bowel can twist upon itself and this is called a vovulous. In this case, the bowel may twist or untwist on its own. Patients may have pain that comes and then goes away.
Treating Bowel Blockages
Patients will come to the doctor when they're having symptoms. If the symptoms are very severe, patients may go to the emergency room. Patients may have pain which comes and goes, or the pain may be constant. The doctor may order a CAT scan or an abdominal X-ray to see what the problem is. Sometimes, a colonoscopy will be performed. If there's a mass, surgery may be required. For a vovulous, sometimes the colonoscopy can untwist the kink, but if not, then surgery would be required as well.
Thanks for watching. I'm Dr. Alyse Bellomo. For more information, consult your doctor or go to About.com.
