Fecalith: A hard stony mass of feces in the intestinal tract. A fecalith can obstruct the appendix, leading to appendicitis. Fecaliths can also obstruct diverticuli. Also known as coprolith and stercolith.
From Wikipedia:
A fecalith is a stone made of feces. It is a hardening of feces into lumps of varying size and may occur anywhere in the intestinal tract but is typically found in the colon. It is also called appendicolith when it occurs in the appendix and is sometimes concomitant with appendicitis. They can also obstruct diverticula. It can possibly form secondary to fecal impaction. A fecaloma is a more severe form of fecal impaction, and a hardened fecaloma may be considered to be a giant fecalith. The term is from Greek líthos=stone.
Coprolith is also used to mean geologically fossilized feces
From the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) paper, Association between the appendix and the fecalith in adults:
Background
We sought to determine the association between the presence of a fecalith and acute/nonperforated appendicitis, gangrenous/perforated appendicitis and the healthy appendix.
Conclusion
Our data confirm the theory of a statistical association between the presence of a fecalith and acute (nonperforated) appendicitis in adults. There was also a significant association between the healthy appendix and asymptomatic fecaliths. There was no correlation between a gangrenous/perforated appendix and the presence of a fecalith. We conclude that the fecalith is merely an incidental finding and is not the primary cause of acute (nonperforated) or gangrenous (perforated) appendicitis, but merely an association. We postulate that the underlying cause is most often related to some other factor when fecaliths are found in patients with perforated or gangrenous appendices.
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