A Brunner's gland adenoma as a cause of anemia

Benign tumors of the small bowel are rare. They present with many different manifestations depending on the size and location, and also cause a variety of symptoms that are often nonspecific. These include abdominal pain, dyspepsia, nausea, vomiting, and gastrointestinal bleeding that may be melena or hematemesis. Most of the time patients are asymptomatic and the lesions are discovered as an incidental finding. When bleeding occurs, and it may be severe in certain situations, the patient may develop signs of anemia, such as dyspnea, fatigue, and even high-output cardiac failure. The authors present a patient who was evaluated for melena and who was found to have a duodenal polyp that proved to be a Brunner's gland adenoma on pathology.