What is Hirschsprung's disease?
My three-year-old niece has problems with constipation and we have been told that Hirschsprung's disease could be a potential reason.
Hirschsprung's disease is a condition caused by nerve cells in part of the bowel wall failing to develop normally.
This means that the bowel cannot contract in the usual way to move faeces through its lower part.
Usually the symptoms of Hirschsprung's disease develop in the first few days of life, with a failure to pass stools and a tummy that becomes more and more swollen.
When the disease is present at this age, treatment involves performing a colostomy – detaching the bowel above the abnormal area and bringing it out onto the skin of the baby's abdomen where the faeces will be collected in a bag attached to the skin.
Before the baby is aged two, surgery can often be performed to cut out the affected portion of bowel, and then to reconnect the 'healthy' parts.
If only a short segment of bowel is affected by Hirschsprung's disease, problems with constipation may not develop until a child is older.
There have even been cases that have not been diagnosed until people were in their sixties or seventies!
If a diagnosis of Hirschsprung's disease is considered possible in your niece I would imagine that she is being referred to a specialist for tests to find out for certain whether she has the condition.
The vast majority of children suffering from constipation will not turn out to have Hirschsprung's, so only when she's had her investigations will it be possible for her doctors to give advice on the best treatment for her problem.
The NetDoctor Medical Team