Neuropathological Changes of the Intestinal Wall in Patients With Bowel Evacuation Disorders

Constipation and defecation disorders affect about 15% of the European population and of those up to 30% of the patients over 65 years of age. For those affected, this is associated with major restrictions in quality of life and high health care costs . The underlying causes of constipation and defecation are complex and only partially understood. Intestinal (full wall) resections taken in clinical practice from these patients when conservative therapy has been exhausted show rarefaction of ganglion cell nests in the myenteric plexus and submucosal plexus as well as changes in cholinergic innervation. Initial histopathological investigations suggest an inflammatory genesis of this rarefaction of ganglion cell nests, which will be further characterised/investigated in the context of this study on the basis of further histopathological and serological investigations. This may lead to novel therapeutic approaches that can causally treat the symptoms of those affected.