[Acute intestinal hemorrhage: a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge]

Bleeding per anum is a common medical-surgical problem. The severe acute intestinal bleeding is rare and concerns mostly elderly patients. Localizing active sites of bleeding within the intestine remains a difficult diagnostic and therapeutic task. The most frequent reasons of acute intestinal bleeding in elderly patients are diverticula, angiodysplasia and tumors. In younger patients the site of bleeding is usually a Meckel diverticulum. Endoscopy, angiography and scintigraphy allows generally to avoid blind resections. The possibility of an exact localization of a bleeding site permits a local therapy by the way of endoscopy or surgery.