What is the condition of small intestinal wall thickening

The intestine can be said to be the largest organ in our body. It is mainly responsible for the absorption and secretion of nutrients, and also "controls" the body's immunity. So, once there is a problem with the intestines, it can be very serious. Many people find that X-rays show thickening of the small intestine wall when undergoing intestinal examinations. What is going on? Thickening of the small intestine wall is most likely caused by intestinal disease.

Common causes of intestinal wall thickening include edema, bleeding, infection, graft host rejection and enteritis; less common causes include immunodeficiency, lymphoma, hemangioma, pseudotumor and Langerhans cell histiocytosis. In addition, a large number of worm eggs in patients with chronic schistosomiasis are deposited in the intestinal wall for a long time, producing a large number of granulomas, causing extensive fibrosis of the intestinal wall, and can also cause intestinal wall thickening to form scars. It is recommended that you go to the hospital for an X-ray or CT scan, and do an worm egg examination to find out the cause and then treat it symptomatically.

The small intestine is located in the abdomen. The upper end is connected to the pylorus and the stomach, and the lower end is connected to the large intestine through the pylorus. It is the main place for food digestion and absorption. The small intestine is coiled in the abdominal cavity, connected to the pylorus of the stomach above and the cecum below. It is about 4-6 meters long and is divided into three parts: the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. Digestion in the small intestine is crucial because the digestion process is basically completed after the food is chemically digested by pancreatic juice, bile and small intestinal fluid in the small intestine and mechanically digested by small intestinal movement, and the nutrients are absorbed by the small intestinal mucosa.

The small intestine not only has an absorptive function, but also a secretory function - it can secrete intestinal fluid. The secretory function of the small intestine is mainly completed by the glands in the small intestinal wall mucosa (duodenal glands and intestinal glands). Normal people secrete 1 to 3 liters of small intestinal fluid every day.

The composition of small intestinal fluid is relatively complex, mainly containing a variety of digestive enzymes, desquamated intestinal epithelial cells and microorganisms. Among the various digestive enzymes it contains are intestinal activating enzyme, amylase, peptidase, lipase, as well as sucrase, maltase and lactase, which play an important role in further decomposing various nutrients into final absorbable products.

The secretion of small intestinal fluid is regulated by many factors, among which local stimulation of the intestinal mucosa by the food bolus and its digestion products (including mechanical stimulation and chemical stimulation) can cause the secretion of small intestinal fluid. These stimuli cause intestinal gland secretion through local reflexes of the nerve plexuses in the intestinal wall. The main function of small intestinal fluid is to further break down sugar, fat and protein, making them absorbable substances.

A large amount of small intestinal fluid can dilute the digestion products and reduce their osmotic pressure, thus facilitating absorption.