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A fecal impaction or an impacted bowel is a solid, immobile bulk of feces that can develop in the rectum as a result of chronic constipation [1] ...
Bowel management is the process which a person with a bowel disability uses to manage fecal incontinence or constipation. [1] People who have a medical condition which impairs control of their defecation use bowel management techniques to choose a predictable time and place to evacuate. [1]
In later stages of constipation, the abdomen may become distended, hard and diffusely tender. Severe cases ("fecal impaction" or malignant constipation) may exhibit symptoms of bowel obstruction (nausea, vomiting, tender abdomen) and encopresis, where soft stool from the small intestine bypasses the mass of impacted fecal matter in the colon.
This may occur when there is a large mass of feces in the rectum (fecal loading), which may become hardened (fecal impaction). Liquid stool elements can pass around the obstruction, leading to incontinence. Megarectum (enlarged rectal volume) and rectal hyposensitivity are associated with overflow incontinence.
It can form secondary to fecal impaction. A fecaloma is a more severe form of fecal impaction, and a hardened fecaloma may be considered a giant fecalith. The term is from the Greek líthos =stone.
Functional constipation, also known as chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC), is defined by less than three bowel movements per week, hard stools, severe straining, the sensation of anorectal blockage, the feeling of incomplete evacuation, and the need for manual maneuvers during feces, without organic abnormalities.