Intussusception Leads to Bloody Mucus On Stool

An intussusception is a medical condition in which a part of the colon has invaginated into another section of intestine, similar to the way in which the parts of a collapsible telescope slide into one another. This can often result in a bowel obstruction. The part that prolapses into the other is called the intussusceptum, and the part that receives it is called the intussuscipiens.

Early symptoms can include nausea, vomiting (sometimes bile stained (green color), pulling legs to the chest area, and intermittent moderate to severe cramping abdominal pain. Pain is intermittent not because the intussusception temporarily resolves, but because the intussuscepted bowel segment transiently stops contracting. Later signs include rectal bleeding, often with “red currant jelly” stool (stool mixed with blood and mucus), and lethargy. Physical examination may reveal a “sausage-shaped” mass felt upon palpation of the abdomen.
In children or those too young to communicate their symptoms verbally, they may cry, draw their knees up to their chest or experience dyspnea (difficult or painful breathing) with paroxysms of pain.

Fever is not a symptom of intussusception. However, intussusception can cause a loop of bowel to become necrotic, secondary to ischemia due to compression to arterial blood supply. This leads to perforation and sepsis, which causes fever.

The condition is not usually immediately life-threatening. The intussusception can be treated with either a barium or water-soluble contrast enema or an air-contrast enema, which both confirms the diagnosis of intussusception, and in most cases successfully reduces it. The success rate is over 80%. However, approximately 5–10% of these recur within 24 hours, some experts say.

If it cannot be reduced by an enema or if the intestine is damaged, then a surgical reduction is necessary. In a surgical reduction, the abdomen is opened and the part that has telescoped in is squeezed out (rather than pulled out) manually by the surgeon or if the surgeon is unable to successfully reduce it or the bowel is damaged, the affected section will be resected. More often, the intussusception can be reduced by laparoscopy, whereby the segments of intestine are pulled apart by forceps.