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Query: UMLS:C1291077 (bloating)
 1,674 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Myxedema megacolon is rare; usually, it manifests with abdominal distention, flatulence, and constipation. Herein we describe a 72-year-old man who had intermittent diarrhea, bloating, and abdominal pain for more than a year. Cultures of stool specimens for Clostridium difficile enterotoxin were variably positive and negative. Colonoscopic biopsy specimens were thought to be consistent with chronic ischemia. Thyroid function tests showed severe hypothyroidism; the patient's symptoms resolved with thyroid hormone replacement. We hypothesize that gross dilatation of the colon, attributed to myxedema, was followed by intestinal ischemia and complicated by recurrent episodes of pseudomembranous colitis. A review of the relevant literature is provided. This unusual manifestation of myxedema should be considered in the differential diagnosis when a patient has diarrhea, bloating, and abdominal pain.
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PMID:An unusual case of myxedema megacolon with features of ischemic and pseudomembranous colitis. 154 53

Just as gastrointestinal functional diseases affect the thyroid, so thyroid disfunction affects the structure and function of almost all parts of the gastrointestinal tract. Hypothyroidism has frequently been associated with various gastrointestinal manifestations, including constipation, bloating, flatulence, atrophic gastritis, ileus, atony and dilatation of the oesophagus, stomach, gallbladder, small intestine and colon. Characteristic intestinal hypomotility in a severe hypothyroidism may progress to intestinal pseudoobstruction, paralytic ileus and megacolon. These rare but potentially serious complications must be recognized and treated promptly with adequate doses of thyroid hormone replacement therapy. The case history of a 64-year-old woman with hypothyroidism and intestinal pseudoobstruction is described.
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PMID:[Intestinal pseudoobstruction in hypothyroidism]. 223 14