Medical Questions » Gut (Intestines) Questions » Question No. 446
| Question: | Would you please explain a closed ileocaecal valve? What are the symptoms and is there any treatment? |
| Answer: | The ten metres of gut in your belly is divided into several sections. The mouth leads to the pharynx, then the oesophagus (gullet) and the stomach. After the stomach comes about seven metres of small intestine, and the last two metres is the large intestine.
The small intestine is divided into three further sections—the short duodenum, the longer jejunum and the ileum. The large gut is also divided into three main sections—the caecum, colon and rectum.
The ileocaecal valve is a muscle ring that separates the last part of the small intestine (the ileum) from the first part of the large intestine (the caecum). Its job is to control the rate at which digested food moves from one part of the gut to the next.
It is quite rare for it to cause any trouble, but if the muscle controlling the valve goes into spasm, it causes a slow-down in the movement of food through the gut. The patient would experience severe intermittent pain in the belly (colic), become bloated and very uncomfortable.
Treatment would involve regularly using one of a number of different drugs that relax the gut muscles, or as a last resort, surgery to partly cut the valve muscle. |
|
|
