"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." In addition to being able to describe your stool to a doctor, it's helpful to have a general idea of the ...

While immunotherapy approaches to cancer treatment have had monumental benefits for cancer care, dichotomy in cohorts of patients who respond and do not respond to these modalities remains a ...

A fecal fat test measures the amount of fat in a person’s stool. The test assesses the digestive function and absorption of fat in the gastrointestinal tract. Several medical conditions cause poor fat ...

Pancreatic elastase is the digestive enzyme the pancreas produces to help digest food. Doctors can measure elastase levels by testing a stool sample. Low levels could indicate exocrine pancreatic ...

Dear Dr. Roach: I am an 80-year-old male in excellent health. I’ve had a colonoscopy every five years following my first in my mid-50s, in which five benign polyps were found. I was told colonoscopies ...

Everyone’s bowel habits are different. Some people poop like clockwork: every day at the same time. Others go more sporadically, like a few times a week. Doctors say it’s crucial to know what’s normal ...

Lindsay Curtis is a health & medical writer in South Florida. She worked as a communications professional for health nonprofits and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of ...

Common causes of black poop include dark-colored foods and certain medications. Bleeding in the upper GI tract may cause black, tarry, foul-smelling stool. Seeing a doctor if you have unexplained ...