What causes phytobezoar?
When a bezoar develops due to accumulation of undigested plant or food material, as in this patient’s case, it is termed a phytobezoar. Phytobezoars account for approximately 40% of all reported bezoars. Celery, pumpkins, grape skins, prunes, raisins and, in particular, persimmons are common causes of phytobezoars.
Can bezoars cause constipation?
Constipation is listed as a symptom of bezoars, though this is not likely to be present in all cases. Most bezoars occur in the stomach and duodenum at the beginning of the small intestine. Less common rectal bezoars can lead to fecal impaction, and thus constipation.
How do you get rid of a bezoar belly?
To help break down and dissolve a bezoar, a doctor may prescribe cola or cellulase for people who have mild symptoms. Cellulase is dissolved in water and taken by mouth for 2 to 5 days. Doctors may also give another drug taken by mouth called metoclopramide.
What foods cause Phytobezoar?
Phytobezoars are composed of indigestible food fibers, such as cellulose. These fibers occur in fruits and vegetables, including celery, pumpkin, prunes, raisins, leeks, beets, persimmons and sunflower-seed shells.
Do Bezoars cure poison?
One fabled poison cure was the bezoar, a hardened spherical deposit of indigestible material that forms in the gastrointestinal tract of hoofed animals. For hundreds of years, bezoars were believed to be able to render any and all poison inert.
Will a bezoar go away?
Small bezoars may pass through the digestive tract on their own or after you take medication to help dissolve the mass. Severe cases, especially large trichobezoars, often require surgery.
What poisoned Ron Weasley?
bezoar
Harry Potter shoving a bezoar down Ron Weasley’s throat On 1 March, 1997, Ron Weasley was poisoned when he drank some poisoned oak-matured mead that was intended for Albus Dumbledore.
How are phytobezoars and Trichobezoars different?
Bezoars are classified according to the material that forms them: Phytobezoars are composed of indigestible food fibers, such as cellulose. Trichobezoars are composed of hair or hair-like fibers, such as carpet or clothing fibers. Pharmacobezoars are composed of medications that don’t properly dissolve in the digestive tract.
Where are phytobezoars found in the human body?
A bezoar is a concentration of ingested material within the gastrointestinal tract. Trichobezoars (hair) and phytobezoars (poorly digested fibers, seeds, fruits) are the two most common types. Phytobezoars are formed within the stomach in patients with predisposing factors (gastric surgery, inadequate chewing, gastroparesis).
What causes a phytobezoar to form in utero?
Trichobezoars are sometimes a sequela to a habit of bucket-fed calves sucking on the skin of each other to satisfy their nursing instincts. Trichobezoars can form in utero because of hair circulating in the amniotic fluid and being swallowed by the fetus. Phytobezoars result from an excess of indigestible roughage.
What are the side effects of Trichobezoars in humans?
However, as trichobezoars grow in size, they may present with epigastric pain, gastric outlet obstruction, ulceration, GI bleeding, and/or, potentially, perforation.6,10Phytobezoars usually form more rapidly than trichobezoars. Phytobezoars can present with nausea, vomiting, and/or symptoms of gastric outlet obstruction.