Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Treatment of Gastrointestinal Bleeding at Mayo Clinic

Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is not a disorder, but a symptom of a disorder. The source of GI bleeding can be difficult to determine, especially if the source is in the small bowel. Patients with obscure, unexplained Gl bleeding are often referred to Mayo Clinic, where experienced gastroenterologists, surgeons and radiologists, with access to the latest imaging technologies, greatly improve the chances of finding and treating the problem.

Diagnosis

Mayo Clinic has a variety of state-of-the-art tools to investigate obscure GI bleeding, including a promising new technology — multiphase CT enterography. Learn more about GI bleeding diagnosis.

Treatment

Some lesions and tumors may be treated by burning the abnormal tissue or using an endoscope to "snare" and cut off the tissue. If the source for the bleeding can't be found, doctors may prescribe an iron supplement to replace iron lost with slow bleeding. Learn more about GI bleeding treatment options.

About Gastrointestinal Bleeding

GI bleeding refers to bleeding in the GI tract, usually divided into the upper GI tract (from the mouth to the outflow tract of the stomach) and lower GI tract (from the stomach to the anus, including the small and large bowels). Bleeding may be visible (overt) or not visible (occult). Overt bleeding takes the form of vomiting of blood (hematemesis), bloody stools (hematochezia) or black, tarry stools (melena). Occult bleeding is detected by iron deficiency anemia or a fecal occult blood test.

The amount of bleeding can range from microscopic to massive; even small amounts of blood loss over time can lead to anemia. Massive bleeding can ultimately result in shock or even death.

GI bleeding may result from many disorders, including peptic ulcers, gastritis, tears or inflammation of the esophagus, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, colon polyps, cancerous tumors, and Crohn's disease.

Occult GI bleeding is common, but pinpointing the source of the bleeding can be difficult, especially if it originates in the small bowel — 20 feet of intestine between the stomach and large intestine. When the source is still unknown after the patient has had endoscopic examinations of the upper and lower GI tracts, it's considered "obscure."