You should feel better after a week and will probably be back to normal in 2 to 3 weeks. This care sheet gives you a general idea about how long it will take for you to recover. But each person recovers at a different pace. Follow the steps below to get better as quickly as possible.
Complications caused by an intestinal perforation can be related to the disease process that caused it or the treatments that are enlisted. Perforation and subsequent leakage of intestinal contents can lead to peritonitis and eventually sepsis if left untreated.
If you have a gastrointestinal or bowel perforation, you may experience: Abdominal pain or cramping, which is usually severe. Bloating or a swollen abdomen. Fever or chills.
If your GI tract is perforated, the contents may spill into your abdomen and cause peritonitis, an infection. Such an infection can lead to sepsis. Sepsis, which was often called blood poisoning, is the body's life-threatening response to infection.
Treatment most often involves emergency surgery to repair the hole. Sometimes, a small part of the intestine must be removed. One end of the intestine may be brought out through an opening (stoma) made in the abdominal wall. This is called a colostomy or ileostomy.
The tear may repair itself once the infection is cleared up. "Free" perforation, where contents of the colon spill into the abdominal cavity, requires emergency surgery in which the diseased segment of colon is removed.
The inner lining of the intestines is one of the most-often renewed surfaces in the human body, replenishing itself every 2 to 4 weeks.
Colonic perforation after colonoscopy has been described as having a range of 0.016–5%. Several authors seem to agree that complication rates are inferior in diagnostic procedures (<0.5%) versus therapeutic ones, which are associated with a perforation rate of 2–5%.
Often, patients will not know they have a perforated bowel until symptoms are sever. Early signs of sepsis are: Body temperature above 101 F (38.3 C) or below 96.8 F (36 C)
These sores can be caused by several conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, solitary rectal ulcer syndrome and constipation. If you have a rectal ulcer, you may see blood in the stool, have rectal pain or experience painful bowel movements.
Signs of perforation of the bowel wall, contrast extravasation, abscess, GI fistula, free air or fluid may be detected on CT scans. Initial management includes a careful evaluation of the patient status, regarding location and extent of the perforation, presence and severity of infection and hemodynamic stability.
The most common site of colonic perforation is the rectosigmoid colon[1-4,17,19,20].
You cannot eat or drink during bowel rest, but you will receive nutrition and liquids through an IV. A nasogastric (NG) tube will be placed in your nose and down to your stomach. This tube will be used to remove liquids from your stomach to keep your digestive system empty.
In adults, ulcerative disease represents the most common etiology of bowel perforation, with duodenal ulcers causing 2- to 3-times the rate of perforation than gastric ulcers do. Perforation secondary to diverticular disease represents up to 15% of cases.
Well-tolerated fiber sources include tender cooked vegetables, canned or cooked fruits, and starches like cooked cereals and whole wheat noodles and tortillas. Between flares, eat a wide variety of foods as tolerated. This includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and low-fat and nonfat dairy products.
Colon pain is pain or discomfort in the lower abdomen, often accompanied by constipation, diarrhea, or bloody stool.
Treatment often involves intravenous nutrition to allow the bowel to rest, which typically resolves the disease within one or two weeks.
Treatments for an inflamed colon depends on the cause. There is no cure for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, but life-long treatments and lifestyle changes can reduce the risk of flare-ups.
An intestinal perforation is a major life-threatening condition with high morbidity and mortality that requires emergency surgery. Despite improvements in surgical and medical treatments, the overall mortality rate is 30% and the mortality rate of cases that also have diffuse peritonitis is up to 70% [1,2,3,4].
A CT scan will identify inflamed diverticula, bowel wall inflammation, pericolic fat stranding, and corresponding complications [9,10,11,83,87,88]. CT is capable of visualizing pericolonic and colonic complications which results in a more accurate diagnosis for the patient, along with better standard of care.