Correlation between stopping smoking and chronic bowel constipation?

[Keano16]

Dear members,

any opinion about correlation between stopping smoking and development of chronic bowel constipation?

We have a patient with spinal fusion surgery which developed chronic constipation after surgery. We are unable to diagnose the patient. It seems to indirectly be related to surgery.

Local gastroenterologists gave diagnosis of "lesion of enteric nervous system", but we are not sure if this is the right diagnosis and our neurosurgical and neurological team had continued working on this patient.

Patient has stopped smoking on day of surgery, so we are now concentrating on that fact.

Look at (only summary in English language): http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0755498206745638

Thanks in advance for any comments or guidelines,

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[Keano16]

FYI: This chronic and long term constipation indeed seems to be related to smoking.

Patient started smoking 4 days ago and today produced first bowel movement after 17 months.