The clinical hallmark of malabsorption is steatorrhea, which is the presence of excessive fat in the stool. Stools characteristic of steatorrhea are typically:
Symptoms of different malabsorption syndromes can vary. They often include chronic diarrhea, abnormal stools, weight loss, and gas. Your doctor may use lab, imaging, or other tests to make a diagnosis.
How is pediatric malabsorption treated?
Poop from malabsorption, often called steatorrhea, looks pale, bulky, greasy, and foul-smelling, and it floats or sticks to the toilet because of excess fat; it's often loose or watery, and difficult to flush. This occurs when the body can't absorb fats, leading to undigested fat in the stool, along with other symptoms like gas, bloating, chronic diarrhea, and weight loss.
Stool tests.
A stool test can measure the fat content in your stools to diagnose fat malabsorption. It can also reveal parasitic infections, and it can show evidence of decreased pancreatic function.
Blood tests
These can be used to identify suspected malabsorption and are usually the first tests done. They are not specific because low levels of certain substances could be due to disorders other than malabsorption e.g. an unusual diet. Blood carotene levels are useful to screen for malabsorption.
Malabsorption
Colonoscopy is the investigation of choice for diagnosis. Even a macroscopically normal mucosa on endoscopy can have abnormalities such as microscopic colitis and bile acid malabsorption (BAM).
Patients with EPI can present with symptoms such as: steatorrhea with or without diarrhea, weight loss, bloating, excessive flatulence, fat-soluble vitamin deficiencies and protein-calorie malnutrition.
Treatment for malabsorption syndrome may include a special diet, medicine to replace intestinal enzymes or reduce spasms, and vitamin or mineral supplements, such as B12 and iron.
If you have gastroparesis, food stays in the stomach for longer than usual and may not be digested as easily. Symptoms of gastroparesis may include vomiting, heartburn, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, reduced appetite and weight loss.
Possible signs and symptoms of chronic malabsorption include the following: Persistent abdominal pain and vomiting. Frequent, loose, bulky, foul- smelling stools. Increased susceptibility to infection.
Excess bile acids entering the colon can cause the classic signs and symptoms of bile acid malabsorption (BAM), including watery stool, urgency and fecal incontinence.
Change in the Appearance of the Stool
A Thin, narrow, or ribbon-like stool could indicate changes inside your colon. Color: Blood, darkened, or tarry (black) stool can signal issues inside the colon. Your doctor can help determine the cause.
Despite these problems, it appears that giardiasis, coccidiasis, strongyloidiasis and capillariasis cause malabsorption of many important nutrients.
Dysfunction in any of the key phases of absorption—luminal, mucosal, and postabsorptive—results in common malabsorption disorders such as fat malabsorption, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, bile acid malabsorption, celiac disease, and conditions affecting intestinal lymphatic flow.
Early signs of pancreas problems often involve upper abdominal pain radiating to the back, digestive issues like fatty/smelly stools, nausea, vomiting, and unexplained weight loss, along with potential changes in blood sugar (diabetes symptoms like increased thirst/urination) or jaundice (yellow skin/eyes). These symptoms can signal acute or chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer, so consulting a doctor is crucial for diagnosis.
Stool elastase test link, also called fecal elastase-1 or FE-1 test, is the most commonly used stool test. Low levels of FE-1 in the stool may be a sign of EPI. Your doctor will give you a container for catching and holding a stool sample. You should provide a solid or semisolid stool sample for this test.
Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) causes clay-colored, greasy stools that smell foul. A stool test to check for low levels of the elastase enzyme can help diagnose the condition.
The Malabsorption Blood Test (MBT), consisting of pentadecanoic acid (PA), a free fatty acid and triheptadecanoic acid (THA), a triglyceride that requires pancreatic lipase for absorption of the heptadecanoic acid (HA), was developed to assess fat malabsorption in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and pancreatic ...
No, a colonoscopy can't detect IBS, a condition also known as irritable bowel syndrome. You may wonder why a colonoscopy can't detect IBS when it can diagnose the IBD conditions we outlined earlier. IBS is different from IBD.
However, many small bowel diseases can cause similar symptoms, including:
At Gastroenterology Specialists of North Texas, we provide expert diagnosis and leading-edge care for malabsorption syndrome. Patients with this condition have difficulty with the second stage of the digestive process, the absorption of nutrients from digested food.
Several infectious agents can lead to malabsorption. For instance, parasitic infections such as giardiasis, caused by the Giardia lamblia parasite, can damage the intestinal lining, impairing nutrient absorption. Bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine can also disrupt normal digestion and absorption processes.
Ataxia is frequently present. Dysarthria and nystagmus may occur. Symptoms and signs of peripheral neuropathy, including paresthesias, impaired proprioception, impaired vibratory perception, and hyporeflexia are also common.