Abstract
A 57-year-old obese man with diabetes is seen by his primary care physician for his yearly physical. He endorses a 20-lb weight loss in the past few months without changing his diet or exercise. He also reports pencil-thin stools and intermittent constipation. He feels that he cannot adequately evacuate his stool. There is no blood or mucus in his stool. He has a 20 pack-year smoking history. He has never had a colonoscopy. Family history is negative for any cancer. On exam, he is afebrile with a heart rate of 78/min and blood pressure of 132/74 mmHg. His abdomen is soft and non-tender. No abdominal masses are palpated, and he is non-distended. On rectal exam, he has no masses and no gross blood. Laboratory examination reveals a hematocrit of 37% (normal 40–52%).
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Grigorian, A., de Virgilio, C., Arnell, T.D., Petrie, B.A. (2020). Pencil-Thin Stools and Intermittent Constipation. In: de Virgilio, C., Grigorian, A. (eds) Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05387-1_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05387-1_24
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