The stool is granular and contains mucus

Stool can also show whether people are suffering from any disease. For example, unformed stool may be due to enteritis, hard stool may be due to lack of water in the body, which easily leads to the formation of stool retention, and lumpy stool may be due to inflammation, etc. Some people have granular stools with mucus but don’t know what disease causes it. In fact, mucus stools can be physiological or pathological. Here we will introduce the possible diseases that may be caused by granular stools with mucus.

1. Causes and common diseases

The small amount of mucus in normal stool is difficult to detect because it is evenly mixed with the stool. If there is mucus visible to the naked eye, it means that the amount has increased. Mucus stools may appear in acute dysentery, as well as in chronic enteritis, chronic bacillary dysentery, irritable bowel syndrome, colorectal polyps, and other gastrointestinal infectious diseases such as non-typhoidal Salmonella infection, pediatric diarrhea, infant diarrhea, infectious gastroenteritis, ulcerative colitis, colorectal cancer, etc.

2. Causes and common diseases

The small amount of mucus in normal stool is difficult to detect because it is evenly mixed with the stool. If there is mucus visible to the naked eye, it means that the amount has increased. Mucus stools may appear in acute dysentery, as well as in chronic enteritis, chronic bacillary dysentery, irritable bowel syndrome, colorectal polyps, and other gastrointestinal infectious diseases such as non-typhoidal Salmonella infection, pediatric diarrhea, infant diarrhea, infectious gastroenteritis, ulcerative colitis, colorectal cancer, etc.

3. Inspection

If there is a large amount of mucus, it indicates intestinal inflammation or an allergic reaction. If the feces are mixed with mucus, the mucus may come from the small intestine or proximal colon; if the mucus is only attached to the surface of the feces and has a certain bright luster, it means that the mucus comes from the lower colon or rectum.

1. Microscopic examination

(1) Normal cells: White blood cells are occasionally seen in feces, but no red blood cells are seen. In enteritis, the white blood cell count is less than 15 per high-power field of view; in acute bacillary dysentery, the white blood cell count is greater than 15 per high-power field of view, or even fills the entire field of view. Red blood cells can be seen in inflammation of the lower intestine (such as colitis, bacillary dysentery) and bleeding (polyps, tumors, hemorrhoids, etc.). Eosinophils accompanied by Charcot-Leyden crystals can be seen in cases of allergies or intestinal parasitic infections; macrophages can be seen in cases of bacillary dysentery and rectal inflammation; cancer cells can sometimes be found in the feces of patients with colorectal cancer.

(2) Normal food residues may contain a small amount of starch granules, muscle fibers, and fat droplets. If these increase, it indicates poor digestion and absorption, which is more common in chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic insufficiency (such as pancreatic head cancer).

(3) Human yeast and common yeast are normally found in the intestines. When intestinal flora is imbalanced, Candida albicans may be found.

(4) Parasites When a person is infected with parasites, corresponding worm eggs may appear in the feces. Common ones include Ascaris eggs, hookworm eggs, Pinworm eggs, Clonorchis sinensis eggs, Porcine worm eggs and Amoeba trophozoites.

2. Chemical examination

(1) Occult blood test: A small amount of bleeding in the digestive tract causes the red blood cells to be broken down and destroyed so that they cannot be found under a microscope. This is called occult blood (OB). However, the occult blood test can be positive. In normal people, OB test is negative. When bleeding is caused by digestive tract diseases, such as digestive tract ulcers, gastrointestinal tumors, inflammation, etc., OB test will be positive, or even strongly positive.

(2) Qualitative test for stercobilin: Check whether stercobilin is present in feces. Stercobilin can combine with mercury to form a red compound, and the depth of red is proportional to the stercobilin content. Normal stool shows a positive reaction (red); hemolytic anemia shows a strongly positive reaction; common bile duct obstruction shows a negative reaction (no red color).

(3) Fecal bilirubin is normally negative.