Lecture Notes on Chronic Diarrhea, IBD, and Malabsorption

Vocabulary flashcards covering definitions and key characteristics of chronic diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and malabsorption syndrome.

Diarrhea (Traditional Definition)

Increase in fluidity, volume, and frequency of motions relative to the usual pattern.

Diarrhea (Actual Definition)

Increase in total daily stool output associated with increased stool water content.

Acute Diarrhea

Starts acutely, watery without visible blood, lasts less than 14 days.

Dysentery

Acute diarrhea with visible blood in stool.

Persistent Diarrhea

Started as acute diarrhea (watery or dysentery) but persists more than 14 days.

Chronic Diarrhea

Diarrhea of gradual onset lasting more than 1 month or recurrent due to non-infectious cause. Now considered when lasts more than 2 weeks.

More Exact Definition of Chronic Diarrhea

Excessive daily stool liquid volume (>10 mL stool/kg body weight/day) or >3 losses of stool daily.

Small Bowel Diarrhea

Watery, light colored, foul, periumbilical/right lower quadrant pain, bulky large volume.

Large Bowel Diarrhea

Frequent urges, dark colored, rarely foul, lower quadrant pain, tenesmus, and small volume.

Steatorrhea

Fat malabsorption resulting in pale, bulky, greasy, offensive stool.

Osmotic Diarrhea

Substance in lumen poorly absorbed; stops in response to fasting; volume less than 200ml/24h; reducing substance is positive.

Secretory Diarrhea

Substance attached to mucosa stimulates water and electrolytes secretion to lumen, caused by toxin mediated factors).

Functional Diarrhea

Frequent watery stools in the setting of normal growth and weight gain, often due to excessive intake of sweetened liquids.

Organic Diarrhea

Develops in late childhood or adolescence, characterized by unpredictable remission and exacerbations.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Immune-mediated intestinal inflammation due to an unknown agent.

Ulcerative Colitis (UC)

Diffuse superficial inflammation limited to mucosa and submucosa, always starts in the rectum and may involve proximal areas of the large intestine ONLY.

Crohn's Disease (CD)

Localized and transmural inflammation with non-caseating granulomas and fibrosis that can affect any part of the GIT from mouth to anus.

Toxic Mega-colon

A condition where the bowel wall becomes thin & the mucosa is severely ulcerated which may lead to perforation

Malabsorption Syndrome

Diminished intestinal absorption of one (isolated) or more dietary nutrients (generalized) due to either defective nutrient digestion or mucosal absorption.

Celiac Disease

An immune-mediated (T-cell) systemic disorder elicited by gluten and related prolamines in genetically susceptible individuals. Intolerance to gliadin fraction of gluten.

Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome

A rare congenital disorder characterized by exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, bone marrow dysfunction, skeletal and cardiac abnormalities, and short stature.