Fecal material

Fecal material
Diagnosis in short
LM	plant matter - has cell walls, meat - skeletal muscle without nuclei, no colorectal mucosa, microorganisms (bacilli, cocci)
LM DDx	necrosis
Gross	soft material, amorphous, friable
Site	cecum, colon, rectum
Clinical history	poor bowel preparation
Clin. DDx	gastrointestinal polyp

Fecal material, also fecal matter, is poo. It is seen in gastrointestinal pathology.

General

• Common.
• Associated with poor bowel preparation.
  • People on a low-fibre diet seem to have less of 'em.
• Endoscopists go after anything that is polypoid and that may be nothing more than poo.

Gross

• Soft amorphous material.
• +/-Friable.

Microscopic

Features:

• Plant material:
  • Yellow staining chicken wire-like material - may be linear.
    • Thick cell walls often without cytoplasm and usually without a nucleus.
• Meat:
  • Eosinophilic honeycomb-like material without nuclei and without inflammation.
    • Essentially ischemic skeletal muscle without inflammation.
• +/-Microorganisms.
• +/-Inflammatory cells.

DDx:

• Necrosis.
  • Colorectal adenocarcinoma.

Sign out

TRANSVERSE COLON, BIOPSY:
- FECAL MATERIAL.
- NO DEFINITE COLONIC MUCOSA IDENTIFIED.

Alternate

ASCENDING COLON ("POLYP"), REMOVAL:
- CONSISTENT WITH PARTIALLY DIGESTED FOOD.
- NO DEFINITE COLONIC MUCOSA IDENTIFIED.

Micro

The sections show a fragment of striated muscle without nuclei and without inflammation, intermixed with scant microorganisms. No colorectal mucosa is identified.

Rectum

RECTUM, BIOPSY:
- FECAL MATERIAL.
- NO DEFINITE RECTAL MUCOSA IDENTIFIED.

See also

• Gastrointestinal tract polyps.
• Gastrointestinal pathology.