A bowel resection or enterectomy ('' enter-'' + '' -ectomy'') is a

surgical procedure Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pa ...

in which a part of an intestine (bowel) is removed, from either the

small intestine The small intestine or small bowel is an organ (anatomy), organ in the human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract where most of the #Absorption, absorption of nutrients from food takes place. It lies between the stomach and large intes ...

or large intestine. Often the word ''enterectomy'' is reserved for the

sense A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system re ...

of small bowel resection, in distinction from colectomy, which covers the sense of large bowel resection. Bowel resection may be performed to treat gastrointestinal cancer, bowel necrosis, severe enteritis,

diverticular disease Diverticular disease is when problems occur due to diverticulosis, a condition defined by the presence of pouches in the wall of the large intestine (diverticula). This includes diverticula becoming inflamed (diverticulitis) or bleeding. Colonic p ...

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distensi ...

endometriosis Endometriosis is a disease of the female reproductive system in which cells similar to those in the endometrium, the layer of tissue that normally covers the inside of the uterus, grow outside the uterus. Most often this is on the ovaries, fa ...

, ulcerative colitis, or bowel obstruction due to

scar A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a ...

tissue. Other reasons to perform bowel resection include traumatic injuries and to remove polyps when polypectomy is insufficient, either to prevent polyps from ever becoming cancerous or because they are causing or threatening bowel obstruction, such as in familial adenomatous polyposis, Peutz–Jeghers syndrome, or other polyposis syndromes. Some patients require ileostomy or colostomy after this procedure as alternative means of

excretion Excretion is a process in which metabolic waste is eliminated from an organism. In vertebrates this is primarily carried out by the lungs, kidneys, and skin. This is in contrast with secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks after ...

. Depending on which part and how much of the intestines are removed, there may be digestive and

metabolic Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...

challenges afterward, such as short bowel syndrome.

Types

Types of enterectomy are named according to the relevant bowel segment, as follows:

References

External links

Description of the procedure
Digestive system surgery Surgical oncology Surgical removal procedures {{Surgery-stub

Types

See also

References

External links