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Hirschsprung Disease (HD)

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Hirschsprung Disease and Constipation

Hirschsprung (pronounced HURSH-sprung) Disease (HD), is a disease of the * large intestine, which usually occurs in children.

Normally, muscles in the intestine push * stool to the * anus, where stool leaves the body. Special * nerve cells in the intestine, called * ganglion cells, make the muscles push. A person with Hirschsprung Disease does not have these nerve cells in the last part of the large intestine.

In a person with Hirschsprung Disease, the healthy muscles of the intestine push the stool until it reaches the part without the nerve cells. At this point, the stool stops moving. New stool then begins to stack up behind it.

Sometimes the ganglion cells are missing from the whole large intestine and even parts of the * small intestine before it. When the diseased section reaches to or includes the small intestine, it is called long-segment disease. When the diseased section includes only part of the large intestine, it is called short-segment disease.

Definitions For This Page - In Alphabetical Order

* Anus
Pronounced - AY-nus
Anus is the opening at the end of the large intestine. Stool leaves the body through this opening.

* Ganglion Cells
Pronounced - GANG-li-on
Ganglion cells is a type of nerve cell involved in moving stool through the large intestine. A person with Hirschsprung Disease is missing these cells from part of the large intestine.

* Large Intestine
Pronounced - in-TESS-tin
The large intestine is a long tube that makes stool and carries it out of the body.

* Nerve Cells
Nerves are long fibers that carry messages from the body to the brain, and back again, like telephone lines. The messages often tell a body part what to do. Nerve cells are part of nerves. In the intestine, the nerve cells tell muscles how to push the stool along.

* Small Intestine
The small intestine is the organ where most digestion occurs. More about Small Intestine.

* Stool
Stool is solid waste from the body, the material that gets passed in a bowel movement.

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References:
National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC)
October 2004
digestive.niddk.nih.gov

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