Pyloric Stenosis
Alternate Names : Gastric Outlet Obstruction, Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis, Congenital Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis
What are the signs and symptoms of the condition?
At first, pyloric stenosis may cause a mild backflow of food from the stomach to the mouth and mild vomiting. After the symptoms have been present for about 1 week, the vomiting progresses to projectile vomiting. Projectile vomiting is a condition in which the baby vomits so hard that the material vomited may actually go several feet through the air. Usually vomiting occurs within 30 minutes after feeding. After vomiting, the baby usually acts extremely hungry again and wants another feeding. Vomiting may be blood tinged if it is very forceful. The vomit usually does not have greeen bile in it because the blockage is above the area of bile production.
Other signs may be present:
Constipation or small stools may be present because little food has been able to reach the stomach for further digestion.
The baby may begin to lose weight and show signs of dehydration from excessive loss of fluids from the body. Signs of dehydration include a dry mouth, decreased wet diapers, no tears in the eyes when crying, and sunken eyes.
The infant may shows signs of discomfort and may become sluggish or lethargic.
The baby's abdomen may be distended or swollen. Just after feeding, before vomiting, gastric waves may be seen going from left to right over the stomach.
A small, olive-sized mass may be felt through the skin in the upper right side of the abdomen.
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