A patient in China suffered from Hirschsprung's disease (HD) since birth. It is a condition which causes severe constipation owing to dysfunctional nerves in the large intestines. This 22 years old patient had 28 pounds of feces surgically removed from his gut. Zhou Hai reported that he had grossly enlarged bowel. The bowel was removed up to 30 inches by surgeons at Tenth People's Hospital of Shanghai. His condition was compared to a pregnant woman because of the painful enlargement and accumulated feces. Doctors said that it looked like he was about to explode.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, Hai was resorting to laxatives to stimulate stool passing, but they offered little or no relief. This compelled him to visit the hospital and he asked the doctors for help. A lot of tests were conducted which resulted that the man had months or years of accumulated feces within apportion of his colon. These accumulated feces caused swelling.
According to Inverse Science, Dr Yin Lu said the procedure lasted three hours and that they had successfully removed the enlarged body part. Post the three-hour surgery, the patient's gut was stitched up from both ends to stop feces from falling out. Doctors have said that the patient is recovering well. This disease is more common in males than females and affects one in every 5,000 babies. HD is uncommon in adults and is usually diagnosed in children. This disease can be cured only through surgery.
According to the Mayo Clinic, this condition is associated with certain inherited conditions, such as Down's syndrome and other abnormalities present at birth, such as congenital heart disease.
