What should I pay attention to when my baby has megacolon?

The baby is the hope of every family and is worthy of our parents' special protection. The baby's health is very important. Only when the baby is healthy can he have a good life and future. So what should we pay attention to when the baby has megacolon? This disease is quite tormenting to our babies, so we as parents must take good care of our babies.

1. Medical history and physical signs: More than 90% of the children have no meconium within 36 to 48 hours after birth, and then have intractable constipation and abdominal distension. They must undergo enema, laxatives or anal plugs to defecate. They often have a history of malnutrition, anemia and loss of appetite. The abdomen is highly distended and can be seen to be wide. Rectal digital examination feels that the rectal ampulla is empty and cannot touch the feces. The feces can only be touched after the spasm segment to the dilation segment.

2. X-ray findings: Abdominal upright films often show low colon obstruction. Barium enema lateral and anteroposterior photos show typical spasmodic and dilated intestinal segments. Barium excretion function is poor. Barium is still retained after 24 hours. If the barium is not washed out by enema in time, barium stones may form. In case of enteritis, the intestinal wall of the dilated intestinal segment is serrated. In the neonatal period, dilated intestinal tract can be seen by comparison more than half a month after birth. If the diagnosis is still not confirmed, the following examinations should be performed.

3. Biopsy: Take a small piece of tissue from the submucosal layer and muscular layer of the rectal wall 4 cm away from the anus to check the number of ganglion cells. Children with megacolon lack ganglion cells.

4. Anorectal manometry measures the reflex pressure changes of the rectum and anal sphincter to diagnose congenital megacolon and differentiate constipation caused by other reasons. In normal children and functional constipation, when the rectum is stimulated by expansion, the internal sphincter immediately relaxes reflexively and the pressure decreases. In children with congenital megacolon, the internal sphincter not only does not relax but also contracts significantly, causing the pressure to increase. This method may sometimes produce false positive results in newborns within 10 days.

5. Rectal mucosal histochemical examination: This is based on the fact that the hyperplasia of the parasympathetic preganglionic fibers in the submucosal and muscular ganglion cells of the spasmodic segment continuously releases a large amount of acetylcholine and cholinesterase. Chemical methods can be used to determine that the number and activity of both are 5 to 6 times that of normal children. It helps in the diagnosis of congenital megacolon and can be used for newborns.

Psychological care: Since the symptoms of megacolon in newborns are obvious and the condition is serious, manifested by abdominal distension, visible abdominal wall veins, difficulty in defecation, vomiting, etc., parents feel heartbroken to see their children suffering from the disease and hope that the disease can be cured with medicine. On the other hand, they do not understand the occurrence and development of the disease, are unfamiliar with the medical environment, and are not confident in medical technology, which often manifests as doubt, anxiety, fear, etc. At this time, we should use kind words and a friendly attitude to patiently and meticulously comfort the family members, and use our superb skills, excellent abilities and personal experiences of recovered cases to dispel their concerns and enable them to actively cooperate with the treatment with a good attitude.

The above points can all be good for treating baby's megacolon. As parents, we must learn the above treatment methods carefully. Only in this way can our baby have a better body. Only when our baby is healthy will he have a good future, and our parents will be very relieved.