RECTOCELE
Categories:
Diseases of Women
The muscle that holds up the lower end of the rectum is
relaxed or torn and this deprives the lower end of the rectum of its
support so that during expulsion of the feces forward distention of the
anterior wall of the rectum into the vagina results. The posterior wall of
the vagina is carried before the advancing anterior rectal wall, and
appears at the entrance of the vagina as a bulging tumor which is
increased in size with
every effort of the rectum to cast out the feces.
Causes. Hard child-birth (labor) and the long time the head of the child
was resting on the perineum. This resulted in an overstretching or tear of
the muscle that holds up the lower end of the bowel and the parts were
necessarily weakened.
Symptoms. It is hard to entirely empty the rectum because of the presence
of the tumor. This is soft, rounded, increasing and decreasing in size and
disappears upon pressure.
Treatment. Keep, if possible, the tumor from getting larger, regulate the
bowels.
An operation may be necessary to restore the parts to their normal
condition. A physician must be consulted.