Evaluation of anemia caused by hemorrhoidal bleeding

Hemorrhoidal bleeding and anemia are two common entities. The purpose of this article is to review the incidence of hemorrhoidal bleeding that causes anemia in a stable population, to describe patients who have hemorrhoidal bleeding that caused anemia, and to define observations regarding the recovery of their anemia.

This was a retrospective chart review of patients seen at the Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Community Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, from 1976 through 1990.

Incidence of hemorrhoidal bleeding that caused anemia was found to be 0.5 patients per 100,000 population per year in Olmsted County from 1976 to 1990. The mean age of 43 patients studied was 50 (range, 25-72) years. Twenty-seven patients were male, and 16 were female. Ninety-three percent of these patients had grade 2 or 3 internal hemorrhoidal disease. Six had impaired coagulation. The mean hemoglobin concentration before treatment was 9.4 g/dl (+/- 0.97 SD). Of note was the description of hemorrhoidal bleeding that included blood squirting or clots passing in 84 percent of patients for whom a description was available. It was found that recovery from anemia after definitive treatment with hemorrhoidectomy was rapid, with a mean hemoglobin concentration of 12.3 g/dl after two months, and by six months, the mean hemoglobin concentration was 14.1 g/dl.

It is imperative to evaluate other causes of anemia when presented with hemorrhoidal bleeding with anemia. If no other sources are identified, treatment of the hemorrhoid should be undertaken, and a rapid return of hemoglobin concentration can be expected within two months, and all patients should have a normal hemoglobin by six months. Failure to recover hemoglobin concentration should prompt further or repeated evaluation for other causes of bleeding.