Dr Steve
06-26-2009, 12:56 PM
my kid just got diagnosed with pyloric stenosis...what the hell is it?
Pyloric Stenosis is an overgrowth of muscle tissue in the channel going from the stomach to the small intestine. This can cause a mechanical obstruction of food going from the stomach to the rest of the GI tract. The symptoms are poor feeding, and eventually increasing projectile vomiting.
http://www.schneiderchildrenshospital.org/peds_html_fixed/images/ei_0365.gif
If you feel just below the ribcage and above the belly button, you may feel an "olive"-like mass in the abdomen. This is the overgrown (hypertrophic) pyloric channel, and feeling it is pretty diagnostic for the condition.
Surgery is the most effective treatment, though not all kids need to be treated. It usually happens in the first weeks to months of life. As the kid grows, the pyloris grows, resulting in the aforementioned obstruction.
These days, the surgery can be done with a laparoscope. A small incision in the belly button leads to a pyloromyotomy (myo=muscle, tomy=cut so pyloromyotomy= cutting the muscle of the pyloris) and the kid is usually in and out of surgery in under an hour.
I hope yours does well, keep us in the loop!
your pal,
steve
Pyloric Stenosis is an overgrowth of muscle tissue in the channel going from the stomach to the small intestine. This can cause a mechanical obstruction of food going from the stomach to the rest of the GI tract. The symptoms are poor feeding, and eventually increasing projectile vomiting.
http://www.schneiderchildrenshospital.org/peds_html_fixed/images/ei_0365.gif
If you feel just below the ribcage and above the belly button, you may feel an "olive"-like mass in the abdomen. This is the overgrown (hypertrophic) pyloric channel, and feeling it is pretty diagnostic for the condition.
Surgery is the most effective treatment, though not all kids need to be treated. It usually happens in the first weeks to months of life. As the kid grows, the pyloris grows, resulting in the aforementioned obstruction.
These days, the surgery can be done with a laparoscope. A small incision in the belly button leads to a pyloromyotomy (myo=muscle, tomy=cut so pyloromyotomy= cutting the muscle of the pyloris) and the kid is usually in and out of surgery in under an hour.
I hope yours does well, keep us in the loop!
your pal,
steve