The bowel elimination It is the process by which food waste is eliminated from the body during digestion; It is the last link in the chain of processes carried out by the digestive system. Individuals need to restore or meet minimum metabolic and energy requirements to carry out their physiological processes.
This restoration process is done mainly through diet; that is, feeding. The start of feeding is the first stage of the digestion process, in which successive and logical stages are described, such as ingestion, digestion, absorption, assimilation and egestion.
The importance of knowing the physiology and anatomy inherent to the intestinal elimination process lies in the fact that numerous pathological processes are associated with its modification and, therefore, the diagnosis of clinical entities could be helped or be based on the recognition of their alterations.
The digestive system comprises a series of structures derived from the embryonic endoderm. Each of these has a role in the digestive process and a predominant activity. For example, the small intestine is characterized as an organ whose predominant function is the absorption of various nutrients.
Regarding intestinal elimination, the portion of the digestive system that is closely related to this is the large intestine.
The large intestine, like most of the digestive system, has 4 layers in its constitution, from the inside out, described as mucosa, submucosa, muscular and serous.
The main difference with the small intestine is that the large intestine does not have villi or conniving valves but, on the other hand, it has a large number of Lieberkuhn's glands.
It begins in the ileo-caecal valve and from an intestinal cul-de-sac - also known as the cecum - its approximate length ranges from 1.20 m to 1.60 m.
It is divided into various portions, which are divided as follows: ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon and sigmoid colon, which ends in the upper portion of the rectum..
In short, the digestive process is made up of various stages or phases. The initial stages include the ingestion of plant or animal products, followed by the extraction of the necessary nutrients and substances from these foods..
Later comes the disposal of everything that is not useful or that is capable of generating some damage to the organism; the latter is known as intestinal elimination.
The predominant function of intestinal elimination lies in two well-described physiological processes: intestinal motility, also known as peristalsis; and the absorption, not so much of nutrients, but of water and sodium.
Peristalsis consists of involuntary contraction and relaxation movements of the intestinal walls that promote the movement of the contents of the organ..
The muscular layer of the intestine has longitudinal and circular muscle fibers, which are electrically connected through cleft intercellular bridges..
These muscle fibers contract in response to the propagation of slow, almost continuous electrical waves. In turn, these waves are divided into slow and herringbone.
Slow waves control gastrointestinal motility almost entirely and continuously, but have the particularity that by themselves they do not trigger action potentials, but rather depolarize the membrane at rest..
Spike waves, also known as spike potentials, are true action potentials, which are generated in response to changes in the membrane by alteration of resting membrane potentials..
For the contraction to take place, depolarization causes an opening of calcium-sodium channels, unlike in other types of nerve fibers where fast sodium channels open.
In the case of the intestine, the calcium-sodium channels have a slow and sustained opening, which explains the long duration of the action potential and the appearance of slow and tonic contractions. This entire motility system is commanded by the autonomic nervous system..
They are all those techniques that have as their final objective the promotion of fecal elimination. Some of these include the following:
In the context of intestinal elimination there are various pathologies capable of altering the physiological processes inherent to egestion and, therefore, expressing its symptoms in the form of alteration of the frequency, quality, quantity or aggregates of the stools. Among the most prominent pathologies are the following:
It is defined according to the World Health Organization (WHO) as the increase in the frequency of evacuation at a rate of more than 3 times a day, and the decrease in the consistency of the stools.
It is classified as acute or chronic diarrheal syndrome depending on the length of time, and its etiology ranges from viral infections to more complex conditions such as Crohn's disease..
The antithesis of diarrhea includes in its definition a decrease in the frequency of bowel movements. It can also be associated with changes in its consistency.
Its etiology is also multifactorial; in adults the most common cause is functional constipation.
It is a syndrome characterized by the difficulty or inability to absorb certain nutrients, which generates a deficit of these in the body.
One of the most frequent causes is celiac disease, which is attributed as one of its symptomatic manifestations the presence of fat in the stool or steatorrhea.
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