Stool burden
Read Your Scan Editorial Team·Last updated
Written from published radiology references and reviewed for plain language. Not written or signed by a physician, and not a diagnosis. How we write these pages →
In plain language
How much stool was visible in the colon at the moment of the scan, usually graded as mild, moderate or large. Some reports call it faecal loading or coprostasis. It describes the picture at one instant rather than diagnosing constipation, and your doctor reads it alongside your symptoms.
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Where you'll see this
This wording turns up on Abdominal CT reports — CT imaging of the abdomen. An abdominal CT shows the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, bowel, blood vessels, and lymph nodes in fine detail. Doctors order it for abdominal pain, to look into a suspected stone, infection, or blockage, or to check known findings. Because it is so detailed, it often notes small, harmless things by chance. The report describes what the images show; your doctor reads it together with your symptoms and other results.
Questions worth asking your doctor
- What was the main reason for this CT, and did it answer that question?
- Were any findings incidental, and do any of them need follow-up?
- If a stone or cyst was seen, does it need treatment or monitoring?
- Do the results change my current care or medications?
- Is there anything I can do about findings like fatty liver?
How common is this?
Stool burden is one of the most frequently reported observations on abdominal imaging, and one of the most frequently misread by the person it belongs to. It describes how much stool was visible in the colon at the moment the scan was taken — nothing more. Radiologists grade it as mild, moderate or large, and there is no single agreed scale behind those words: the grading is a visual impression, so two radiologists looking at the same images will not always choose the same one. Some reports use faecal loading or coprostasis for exactly the same observation. Because a CT of the abdomen images the whole colon, the phrase turns up constantly on scans ordered for something else entirely.
When should I worry?
On its own, a stool burden of any grade — including large — is a description rather than a diagnosis, and it is not the same thing as a blockage. A bowel obstruction is a different finding, and radiologists describe it in different words: dilated loops of bowel, a transition point where the calibre changes, air-fluid levels. What matters is not the grade but how you feel. Not passing stool or gas at all, persistent vomiting, a hard swollen abdomen or severe pain are reasons to seek care the same day, whatever the report says about stool burden. Equally, a large burden in someone who feels well is often just what the bowel happened to be holding that morning.
What happens next
Most reports mentioning stool burden need no action beyond what your doctor already had in mind for the symptom that prompted the scan. Where it is thought to be contributing to how you feel, the first steps are the ordinary ones — more fluid, more fibre, movement, and sometimes a laxative your doctor chooses. Constipation that is new, persistent or worsening is worth investigating rather than only treating, because the report describes the stool that is there and not the reason it is there.
Frequently asked questions
- What does moderate stool burden mean?
- It means the radiologist saw a moderate amount of stool in your colon when the scan was taken. Mild, moderate and large are visual impressions rather than measurements, and no standard scale sits behind them. The phrase describes one instant in time; it does not grade how constipated you are, and it does not say what caused it.
- Is stool burden the same as constipation?
- No, and this is the most common misunderstanding. Stool burden is something seen on an image. Constipation is a clinical diagnosis based on how often you go, how hard it is and how you feel. People with a large stool burden can have no symptoms at all, and people who are badly constipated can have a scan that looks unremarkable.
- Does a large stool burden mean I have a blockage?
- Not by itself. An obstruction is a separate finding with its own description — dilated bowel loops, a transition point, air-fluid levels — and a radiologist who suspected one would say so plainly rather than leave you to infer it. If you are not passing gas or stool, are vomiting, or your abdomen is swollen and painful, seek care regardless of how the stool burden was graded.
Other words on the same report
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