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  • Abdominal mass
    A swollen, sometimes hard, area around your stomach
  • Abscess
    A swollen area containing pus
  • adenoma
    A polyp growing from glandular tissue in the mucous membrane of the bowel
  • Anaemia
    A low number of red blood cells or a low amount of iron in the blood
  • Anal sphincter
    Circular muscle at the anus which relaxes to allow faecal matter to pass through
  • anastomosis
    A surgical join between two pieces of bowel
  • Autosomal dominant
    50:50 chance of inheritance
  • Barium
    A substance which shows up in x-rays
  • Biopsy
    The removal of a small piece of tissue from the body which will then be used for further examination, like looking under a microscope
  • caecum
    The first part of the large bowel
  • Chemotherapy
    The treatment of disease by chemical agents
  • chromosome
    A length of coiled DNA
  • colectomy
    Surgery to remove part of or all of the colon
  • Colectomy with ileo rectal anastomosis
    The operation in which the colon is removed and a surgical join made between the last part of the small bowel and rectum
  • colic
    A severe spasmodic abdominal pain
  • Colonic (bowel) stent
    Metal mesh-shaped coiled tube which expands when released thus making a cylindrical channel through a narrow area of the bowel
  • colonoscopy
    The procedure used for examining the whole of the colon (large intestine)
  • colorectal
    Of the colon and rectum
  • Crohn’s Colitis
    Crohn’s disease in the colon (large intestine)
  • Endoscopy
    The general name given to the procedure used for examining the inside of the body with a flexible, lighted tube
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