This is a little weird but does anyone know what "pathological distention of the bowel" means?

That's a fancy term for a stretched bowel... claimed to be a possible consequence of holding in your flatulence (farts).

Really.

See here (http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?query=flatulence&action=Search+OMD) and here (http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&as_qdr=all&q=%22pathological+distention+of+the+bowel%22&btnG=Search).

This is a little weird but does anyone know what "pathological distention of the bowel" means?
I would not say it is a fancy term. If it had been, there would not be a PATHOLOGICAL word before it. It means that your intestines are distended. Reasons maybe due to inflammation, infection, lack of some cells(Plexus) which makes it not fuctional.

By fancy I meant medical.

Distension means enlarged. Pathological means medical.

So "pathological distention of the bowel" means "enlarged bowel" to the non-medical folk.