Malabsorption

Under Malassimilation - from the Latin malus ( bad, harmful, evil) and assimilare ( align, similar to make ) - is impaired, ie reduced nutrient utilization due to different disorders of the digestive tract called. Thus, it is a generic term for the " maldigestion " and " malabsorption ".

Maldigestion

When maldigestion ( Latin for " bad digestion " ) is a fault of the ( enzymatic ) cleavage of the food. The causes can lie in the region of the stomach ( gastrectomy ), pancreas, liver and biliary tract, as well as his inborn enzyme defects as in lactose intolerance.

Malabsorption

Under a malabsorption ( Latin "bad record") is defined as a chronic pathological condition in which the recording already delaminated ( pre-digested ) is previously reduced food components through the intestinal wall into the lymph or bloodstream ( enteral absorption ).

The reason may be, inter alia, congenital diseases, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, hypersensitivity disorders ( celiac disease), infections (eg, Whipple's disease ), or post-operative conditions ( extensive small bowel removal).

Diseases associated with malabsorption are referred to as malabsorption syndromes.

Main symptoms are:

• Mass chairs (> 300 g stool weight)
• Foul-smelling fatty stools ( steatorrhea ); flatulence
• Loss in weight
• Insufficient supply of vitamins A, D, E, K, B12, folic acid, as well as minerals (eg calcium, iron ), protein and trace elements
• Muscle weakness
• Skin and mucosal changes
• Anemia (anemia )

Various methods of bariatric surgery, surgery to combat morbid obesity (obesity ), malabsorption use therapeutically to enable morbidly obese patients a sustained reduction of their excess weight. In these patients the malabsorption is achieved by various surgical procedures for the manipulation of the digestive tract.