Fecal Impaction

Fecal impaction is the result of severe constipation, when you're unable to regularly pass poop (stool or feces) and it backs up inside your large intestine (colon). Fecal impaction can also be defined by your inability to sense and respond to the presence of stool in your rectum. Physically and mentally incapacitated persons and institutionalized elderly patients are at particular risk of fecal impaction, as are those who have chronically used drugs for constipation. A combination of factors predisposes certain groups of patients, particularly elderly patients, to this problem: poor eating habits, decreased colonic motility, decreased rectal sensation, and ignoring the urge to defecate because of depression, dementia, physical weakness, immobility, or inadequate access to toilet facilities The sensory function of the rectum and anus decreases with age. This may result in an inability to sense stool in the rectum. Painful lesions of the rectum and anus may also result in the reflex inhibition of stool passage. Regardless of the cause of stool retention, the normal absorption of water persists and hardens the stool. Continued colonic motility or peristalsis may also contribute to packing of stool. The result is a large, hard bolus of stool that becomes impossible to pass through the relatively fixed diameter of the anus.