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Etiology and management of obscure gastrointestinal bleed--an appraisal from eastern India

G Ray¹, P K Banerjee, U C Ghoshal

¹Department of Gastroenterology, Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital and Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata.

Indian Journal of Gastroenterology : Official Journal of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology

|June 13, 2001

Abstract

Objectives And Method:

Forty patients (mean age 45 years; 24 men) attending a tertiary care hospital in eastern India during the period 1996-2000 were investigated to evaluate the etiology and clinical spectrum of obscure gastrointestinal bleed.

Results:

The patients presented to hospital after mean symptom duration of 2.5 years. They had received an average of 15 units of blood transfusion. Most patients presented with recurrent melena (85%); all had iron-deficiency anemia. A total of 230 investigations (89 gastroscopies, 54 colonoscopies, 25 double-contrast meal and follow-through studies, 14 small bowel enemas, 24 radionuclide scans, 16 mesenteric angiographies and 8 intraoperative endoscopies) yielded positive diagnosis in 87.5% of cases. The diseases encountered were small bowel and colonic angiodysplasias (32.5%), ileal Crohn's disease (20%), intestinal tuberculosis (10%), intestinal tumors (10%), nonspecific small bowel ulcers and strictures (7.5%), Meckel's diverticulum (5%) and hemobilia (2.5%). The etiology remained obscure in 5 (12.5%) cases. Overall success of surgery was 63%; in-hospital mortality was 7.5%.

Conclusion:

Though obscure gastrointestinal bleed is commonly caused by angiodysplasias, it can be an atypical presentation of Crohn's disease.

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