Hirschsprung Disease develops before a child is born. Normally, * nerve cells grow in the baby's intestine soon after the baby begins to grow in the womb. These nerve cells grow down from the top of the intestine all the way to the * anus. With Hirschsprung Disease, the nerve cells stop growing before they reach the end.

No one knows why the nerve cells stop growing. But they do know that it's not the mother's fault. Hirschsprung Disease isn't caused by anything the mother did while she was pregnant.

Some children with Hirschsprung Disease have other health problems, such as Down syndrome and other rare disorders.

Large Intestine with Healthy Nerve Cells

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.

* 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.

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

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

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