Coprolith

Source: Wiki

Last year there was a news about a lady who suffered chronic constipation. She took laxatives for years but did not improve much. One day she had really back abdominal pain and checked in hospital. Doctor in the hospital said that she had peritonitis. Due to chronic constipation, lots of food residue has formed coprolith, which completely clogged the end of the large intestine. As a consequence, the proximal end of the large intestine burst, resulting to peritonitis.

During the surgery, doctor cleared nearly 3000 c.c feces and coprolith. Because the patient's colon is ruptured, doctor need to use a temporary artificial anus until the situation is improved.

Coprolith meaning "a mass of hard fecal matter in the intestine" (Merriam-Webster). It can also be written as fecaloma, fecolith, and fecalith.

In Lesson 12-2, we introduced the prefix copr(o)-. This prefix is originated from Greek korpros, meaning feces.

The suffix -lith is also originated from Greek lithos, meaning stone. We will see this suffix again in Lesson 19-2.

When we put these two together, we have coprolith. Chronic constipation or some disease will result in the formation of coprolith. We can avoid coprolith formation by drinking adequate amount of water everyday. Exercise will also help.