The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The stomach has a dilated structure and functions as a vital organ in the digestive system. The stomach is involved in the gastric phase of digestion, following chewing. It performs a chemical breakdown by means of enzymes and hydrochloric acid.
Trichotillomania (TTM), also known as hair-pulling disorder or compulsive hair pulling, is a mental disorder characterized by a long-term urge that results in the pulling out of one's own hair. A brief positive feeling may occur as hair is removed. Efforts to stop pulling hair typically fail. Hair removal may occur anywhere; however, the head and around the eyes are most common. The hair pulling is to such a degree that it results in distress and hair loss can be seen.
The gastrointestinal tract is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans and other animals, including the esophagus, stomach, and intestines. Food taken in through the mouth is digested to extract nutrients and absorb energy, and the waste expelled at the anus as faeces. Gastrointestinal is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the stomach and intestines.
Hirschsprung's disease is a birth defect in which nerves are missing from parts of the intestine. The most prominent symptom is constipation. Other symptoms may include vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and slow growth. Most children develop signs and symptoms shortly after birth. However, others may be diagnosed later in infancy or early childhood. About half of all children with Hirschsprung's disease are diagnosed in the first year of life. Complications may include enterocolitis, megacolon, bowel obstruction and intestinal perforation.
Gastric dilatation volvulus (GDV), also known as gastric dilation, twisted stomach, or gastric torsion, is a medical condition that affects dogs in which the stomach becomes overstretched and rotated by excessive gas content. The word bloat is often used as a general term to mean gas distension without stomach torsion, or to refer to GDV.
Trichophagia is a form of disordered eating in which persons with the disorder suck on, chew, swallow, or otherwise eat hair. The term is derived from ancient Greek θρίξ, thrix ("hair") and φαγεῖν, phagein. Tricho-phagy refers only to the chewing of hair, whereas tricho-phagia is ingestion of hair, but many texts refer to both habits just as trichophagia. It is considered a chronic psychiatric disorder of impulse control. Trichophagia belongs to a subset of pica disorders and is often associated with trichotillomania, the compulsive pulling out of ones own hair. Of people with trichotillomania it is very common to have some behaviors of trichophagia, with estimates ranging from 48-58% having any form of oral habit, 33% biting or chewing, and 4-20% actually swallowing and ingesting their hair. In an even smaller subset of person with trichotillomania, their trichophagia can become so severe that they develop a hair ball.Termed a trichobezoar, these masses can be benign, or cause significant health concerns and require emergency surgery to remove them. Rapunzel syndrome is a further complicaiton whereby the hair ball extends past the stomach and can cause bloakcages of gastrointestinal system.
The pylorus, or pyloric part, connects the stomach to the duodenum. The pylorus is considered as having two parts, the pyloric antrum and the pyloric canal. The pyloric canal ends as the pyloric orifice, which marks the junction between the stomach and the duodenum. The orifice is surrounded by a sphincter, a band of muscle, called the pyloric sphincter. The word pylorus comes from Greek πυλωρός, via Latin. The word pylorus in Greek means "gatekeeper", related to "gate" and is thus linguistically related to the word "pylon".
Hematemesis is the vomiting of blood. It can be confused with hemoptysis or epistaxis (nosebleed), which are more common. The source is generally the upper gastrointestinal tract, typically above the suspensory muscle of duodenum. It may be caused by ulcers, tumors of the stomach or esophagus, varices, prolonged and vigorous retching, gastroenteritis, ingested blood, or certain drugs.
A Nissen fundoplication, or laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication when performed via laparoscopic surgery, is a surgical procedure to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and hiatal hernia. In GERD, it is usually performed when medical therapy has failed; but, with a Type II (paraesophageal) hiatus hernia, it is the first-line procedure. The Nissen fundoplication is total (360°), but partial fundoplications known as Thal, Belsey, Dor, Lind, and Toupet fundoplications are alternative procedures with somewhat different indications and outcomes.
Gastrointestinal diseases refer to diseases involving the gastrointestinal tract, namely the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and rectum, and the accessory organs of digestion, the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas.
Rapunzel syndrome is an extremely rare intestinal condition in humans resulting from ingesting hair (trichophagia). The syndrome is named after the long-haired girl Rapunzel in the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. Trichophagia is sometimes associated with the hair-pulling disorder trichotillomania. This syndrome is a rare and unusual form of trichobezoar. Since 1968, there have been fewer than 40 documented cases in the literature. This syndrome occurs when the trichobezoar (hairball) reaches past the small intestine, and sometimes even into the colon producing a long tail-like extension of hair.
Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is an endoscopic medical procedure in which a tube is passed into a patient's stomach through the abdominal wall, most commonly to provide a means of feeding when oral intake is not adequate. This provides enteral nutrition despite bypassing the mouth; enteral nutrition is generally preferable to parenteral nutrition. The PEG procedure is an alternative to open surgical gastrostomy insertion, and does not require a general anesthetic; mild sedation is typically used. PEG tubes may also be extended into the small intestine by passing a jejunal extension tube through the PEG tube and into the jejunum via the pylorus.
Gastric lavage, also commonly called stomach pumping or gastric irrigation, is the process of cleaning out the contents of the stomach using a tube. Since its first recorded use in early 19th century, it has become one of the most routine means of eliminating poisons from the stomach. Such devices are normally used on a person who has ingested a poison or overdosed on a drug such as ethanol. They may also be used before surgery, to clear the contents of the digestive tract before it is opened.
Duodenal cancer is a cancer in the first section of the small intestine known as the duodenum. Cancer of the duodenum is relatively rare compared to stomach cancer and colorectal cancer. Its histology is usually adenocarcinoma.
Aerophagia is a condition of excessive air swallowing, which goes to the stomach instead of the lungs. Aerophagia may also refer to an unusual condition where the primary symptom is excessive flatus (farting), belching (burping) is not present, and the actual mechanism by which air enters the gut is obscure or unknown. Aerophagia in psychiatry is sometimes attributed to nervousness or anxiety.
Vomiting is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose.
Gastroparesis, also called delayed gastric emptying, is a medical disorder consisting of weak muscular contractions (peristalsis) of the stomach, resulting in food and liquid remaining in the stomach for a prolonged period of time. Stomach contents thus exit more slowly into the duodenum of the digestive tract. This can result in irregular absorption of nutrients, inadequate nutrition, and poor glycemic control.
One of the most common locations for a foreign body is the alimentary tract. It is possible for foreign bodies to enter the tract either from the mouth, or from the rectum.
A bezoar is a mass often found trapped in the gastrointestinal system, though it can occur in other locations. A pseudobezoar is an indigestible object introduced intentionally into the digestive system.
A phytobezoar is a type of bezoar, or trapped mass in the gastrointestinal system, that consists of components of indigestible plant material, such as fibres, skins and seeds. While phytobezoars may be discovered incidentally on barium x-ray or endoscopic testing of the stomach, individuals with phytobezoars may develop symptoms: nausea, vomiting, gastric outlet obstruction, perforation, abdominal pain, and bleeding have been reported. Conditions that lead to decreased motility in the stomach (gastroparesis) and surgeries on the stomach are associated with the development of phytobezoars. A specific type of phytobezoar, termed a diospyrobezoar, is associated with ingestion of unripe persimmons, which contain a soluble tannin called shibuol that polymerizes into a coagulative cellulose-protein compound in the acid environment of the stomach, to form the bezoar. In addition to their presence in human stomachs, phytobezoars have been documented in the stomachs of slaughtered plant-eating animals.
