Causes and Management of Lower Gastro-Intestinal Bleeding
Mohammed Salah Hussein
Department of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy, Dr Samir Abbas Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Al- Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Ziyad Abdullah Alshagawi
Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia.
Noor Abdulhakim M. Al Fateel
Abqaiq General Hospital, Saudi Arabia.
Hossam Mohammed Alashhab
King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
Alenzi Meshari Mosleh
Jouf University, Saudi Arabia.
Osamah Abdulmonem Almutawa
King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulrahman Oun Alshahrani
King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed Faisal G. Alahmadi
Qassim University, Saudi Arabia.
Saleh Kamal Alzahrani
Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia.
Wed Mohammed Khorami
Batterjee Medical College, Saudi Arabia.
Naif Mohammed Al-Wagdani
King Abdulaziz university- Rabigh Branch, Saudi Arabia.
Abdalrhman Nbil Bokhari
King Abdulaziz university- Rabigh Branch, Saudi Arabia.
Wafa Faisal W. Aljadrawi
Tabuk University, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulrahman Ghorom Malhan
King Abdullah Hospital, Bisha, Saudi Arabia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding from the colon is a communal reason for hospitalization and is being more frequent in older patients. Gastrointestinal bleeding is known as any bleeding that takes place in the GIT from mouth to anus. Lower GI bleeding is defined as bleeding distal to the ligament of Treitz. Lower GI bleed is typically presented as hematochezia which is the passing of bright red blood clots or burgundy stools through the rectum. The causes of lower GI bleeding are changing over the past several decades from diverticulosis (which is the protrusion of the colon wall at the site of penetrating vessels), infectious colitis, ischemic colitis, angiodysplasia, inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, hemorrhoids, anal fissures, rectal varices, dieulafoy lesion, radiation-induced damage following cancer treatment to post-surgical. Management of lower GI bleeding is done through assessing the severity of symptoms and the condition of the overall case.
Keywords: GI bleeding, hematochezia, diverticulosis, lower GI