When diagnosing enterocolitis, coprological studies are of considerable importance, which help in the detection of elements of inflammatory processes in case of disease in the majority of the colon cavity or remnants of undigested products, which indicates the presence of a disease where the cavity of the small intestine is more damaged.
The doctor, if there is a suspicion of enterocolitis, is assigned tests for feces and blood. When analyzing feces, the presence of the eggs of the worms is checked, as well as the sowing of stool for bacteria from the group of dysentery. Also the inspection on a dysbacteriosis is spent.
When analyzing blood in the case of severe enterocolitis, anemia, hypoproteinemia, dysproteinemia, as well as a decrease in the serum lipid index will be detected. There is a decrease in the levels of sodium, calcium and potassium.
Methods for diagnosis of enterocolitis
Endoscopic methods for diagnosing the disease are colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy. Thanks to him, the specialist is provided with a general picture of catarrhal inflammatory processes that occur in the mucosa of the colon. In this case, you can find: mucus, hemorrhage, flushing and swelling.
Thanks to X-ray examinations of the cavity of the colon in case of suspicion of the diagnosis of enterocolitis with the use of contrast enema, it is possible to obtain a picture with altered mucosal relief, which is a characteristic of motor intestinal activity.
When diagnosed, the enterocolitis of the small intestine will be examined using an X-ray method, and a specialized examination will be performed to determine the suction function of the small intestine. In some cases, an aspiration biopsy is administered.
Differential diagnosis of enterocolitis
Differential diagnosis of the disease is due to the fact that very many diseases have the same symptoms with enterocolitis. Thus, differentiation is carried out with dyskinesia of the cavity of the small intestine. With dyskinesia, there are no painful sensations on palpation, but defecation disorders are present. The final diagnosis can be made only with endoscopy with a colon cavity biopsy.
Diagnosis is carried out and to exclude colitis of a non-specific ulcerative type. They have very similar symptoms of the disease, however, when carrying out irrigoscopy and endoscopy in the case of enterocolitis, there will be no multiple ulcers, scar scarring of the intestinal lumen.
Also common signs are Crohn's disease and enterocolitis. Very important in diagnosis is given to the examination of the anal area: in the case of Crohn's disease, swelling of mucous and perianal tissues is observed, so that the skin becomes purplish-cyanotic. To accurately determine the disease, an endoscopic examination is performed with a biopsy of the affected area of the mucosa.
Neoplasms in the cavity of the colon have a peculiarity to flow according to the type of enterocolitis. As distinctive signs in the diagnosis is a constant presence of constipation, there is no pattern when measuring constipation with diarrhea, or there is an abundant fetid liquid stool after prolonged constipation. In this case, irrigoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, and colophofibroscopy are performed with a targeted biopsy of the large intestine.