Anticoagulant-induced intramural intestinal hemorrhage

Long-term use of warfarin can provide benefits in the treatment of many diseases, but adverse bleeding events are unpreventable because of a narrow therapeutic range.

The aim of this retrospective chart review with data abstraction was to investigate the clinical presentations of intestinal intramural hemorrhage in emergency department (ED) patients.

We reviewed the cases of 17 patients with acute abdominal pain in our ED. Medical records including demographic data and results of abdominal computed tomography were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed.

The mean ± SD age of the reviewed patients was 77.7 ± 8.5 years (range, 60-93 years). The mean ± SD duration from onset of symptoms to ED visit was 2.5 ± 1.3 days (range, 1-5 days). All patients had abdominal pain, and 64.7% had nausea/vomiting. A total of 64.7% of patients had peritoneal signs. The jejunum was most commonly involved (88.2% of all cases). The maximal mean ± SD wall thickening of the bowel was 14.1 ± 4.4 mm (range, 7.4-26.7 mm), and the estimated mean ± SD length was 35.6 ± 24.4 cm (range, 9-105 cm). The mean ± SD prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time were prolonged to 86.5 ± 26.9 and 116.2 ± 43.1 seconds, respectively. All patients received medical treatment and survived. At the last follow-up (mean, 27.4 months), none of the patients had recurrence of intestinal intramural hemorrhage or intestinal obstruction.

Prolonged prothrombin time and drug history can indicate the possibility of intramural intestinal hemorrhage, and abdominal computed tomography may help to exclude surgical diseases and prevent unnecessary surgery.