Getting Pain, Dark Stools And Constipation. Have Had Hysterectomy Done. What Are The Chances Of Enlarged Uterus?

Posted on Thu, 19 Jul 2012

Question: My mother has pain in her left side with dark stools and constipation. Her doc sent her for a ct scan and the doc thought it was diverticluits. There is no sign of diverticulitis. The doc she has an enlarged uterus, however she had a hysterrecomy over 40 years ago. She is 79 now. How can she have an enlarged utuerus if she does not have one? is there a cyst or gorwth there. She still does have her ovaries. Could the issue be related to her colon

Answered by Dr. Ram Choudhary (1 hour later)

Hi XXXXXXX

Thanks for the query.

There is no question of uterus there, if you correctly remember that surgery done was a hysterectomy.
Ovarian cyst can be there, but it does not resemble Uterus on CT abdomen.

First of all I would suggest that get her stool examination for occult blood.

Constipated patients may pass dark stools particularly when on Iron supplements.

If there is blood in the stools then a colonoscopy is mandatory to rule out an intestinal malignancy.
Because it is very common in that age group and manifests with blood in stools, anemia, palpable mass locally in thin persons, mild pain sometimes. And early diagnosis is landmark achievement.

Optionally it will help to find out if there are any ulcers, diverticulosis, villous adenomas etc.

The aforementioned conditions are my possibilities that could be causes of your mother's current ailment. Consulting a nearest gastrointestinal surgeon will be useful to rule out each of those.

I hope this advice answers your queries. Let me know if you have any more queries.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad