Digestion & Elimination

Treatment of Rectal Prolapse using Chinese Herbs

By Markov ⋅ June 7, 2009 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Introduction:

In theory, we learn that buzhong yiqi tang (补中益气汤) has the effect of “levitation,” of raising spleen qi. One of the theoretical uses of this formula is to “lift up” and reverse the course of anal prolapse. The layers making up the anorectal canal:

• Mucosa (粘膜层)
• Submucosa (粘膜下层)
• Tunica muscularis (肌层)
• Tunica adventitia (外膜层)

Anal prolapse (脱肛) can be divided into three stages:

1. Grade 1: Mucosa (粘膜层) comes off. 3-5cm. Usually no bleeding. And it goes back on its own.
2. Grade 2: All four layers (全层) come off. 5-10cm. Cone shape (圆锥形) of concentric circles. You need to use your hands to push it back in.
3. Grade 3: Part of the sigmoid colon (乙状结肠) starts coming off too. More than 10cm. By this time, the anus is no longer tight. This is often seen in old people, especially ladies who have spent most of their life making babies.

Use of Chinese Herbs:

Buzhong yiqi tang (补中益气汤) is good for strengthening the Spleen and will have a tonic effect, useful perhaps for first degree anal prolapse i.e. just the mucosa coming off.

Other Treatment Considerations:

1. For Grade 1 Rectal Prolapse: If it’s just the submucosa coming off, we can inject into the submucosa, causing an inflammation that will cause the submucosa to stick to the tunica muscularis (肌层).
2. For Grade 2 Rectal Prolapse: Inject into the pelvorectal space (骨盆直肠隙) and the retrorectal space (直肠后间隙). This injection induces non-infectious inflammation which is meant to help the rectal wall to remain sticking to the adjacent tissue.

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