Nikki Sommer, a nurse with Key West Surgical Group, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5 FM for Medical Matters this morning.
Rectal prolapse is a serious thing.
Sommer said, “Rectal prolapse happens when part of the large intestine which is the lowest part of your intestine, the rectum slips out and it slips out outside the muscular opening at the end of the track known as the anus. So it can happen if you have a weakening in that area, and in rare cases it becomes a medical emergency where you need surgery.”
Sometimes it can be treated with medications.
Sommer said, “It depends. In rare occasions it becomes an emergency. Symptoms come like you feel like something coming out of your bottom, and it could be painful and it’s not a hemorrhoid. Sometimes people think it’s a hemorrhoid because it starts out small and then it can get more severe.”
Some people may notice a reddish lump.
Sommer said, “Sometimes there’s mucus and a little bit of blood. Other symptoms might include you can’t control your bowel movements. You have chronic constipation or loose stools and feeling that even after you go to the bathroom you didn’t empty, so you try and kind of push more which makes it worse.”
What causes a rectal prolapse?
Sommer said, “It’s unclear although most common in women is related to childbirth. About one third of women with this health problem never had children. I know childbirth when you have a baby and you push one out, it does weaken your…hardware.”
What are the risk factors?
Sommer said, “Most people are women over the age of 50 it usually happens. Under the age of 50, it can, but over the age of 50 and constipation which is constant straining.”
How can a person get diagnosed?
Sommer said, “A lot of times patients will think it’s hemorrhoids and they come in and the doctors will do a digital rectal exam and it is not. So they look or they can feel and you have an abnormal exam. They might ask you to bear down and then it kind of slips out. There is another test. It’s not done here. It’s called anal manometry where they put in a tube with a balloon and it measures the tone of your sphincter. Colonoscopy which we all know and love can help diagnose this problem as well. A defecography, it’s like an x-ray, an MRI where they use dye to see the structural changes around your lower digestive tract and to see if your rectal muscles are working.”
What is the treatment for rectal prolapse?
Sommer said, “It often involves surgery. It is important if you do suffer from constipation, you need to use stool softeners, suppositories or anything to keep you regular. So you’re not constipated. There are different surgical types of methods to treat the prolapse. If you come in to see us, we will review that with you. So usually, when we see the patients it has been going on for a long time, so it becomes a surgical intervention. That’s when they usually come to us.”
It’s better to catch it early.
Sommer said, “It can be embarrassing. So people are afraid, they don’t want to say that they have a problem. Then when we see them, it’s really a big problem. It’s very uncomfortable to the person that has it for the patients that I’ve met with it. One of the reasons why I picked this topic today is because when a patient came in with referral, and it was from another doctor in the community who was going to send them to Miami, because they said there is nobody in the Keys qualified to do this surgery. Not true. To go to Miami, sometimes that has to be, but in this case, there’s a lot of factors where they’re older, they cannot travel, there’s nowhere to stay, so that wasn’t an option. So they came to us hoping we could help them. Dr. Larrauri and Dr. Smith are qualified to fix this problem.”
What do colorectal surgeons treat?
Sommer said, “Colon cancer and polyposis, that’s just when you have your colonoscopy and they remove the polyps. Inflammatory bowel disease, ischemia to the bowel, that’s loss of blood supply to the bowel. They call it an infarction, and then part of that colon might need to be removed. Structural defects, rectal prolapse is one of them, fistulous, hernias, weakening in certain areas of your intestinal tract.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keywestsurgicalgroup.com/