A case of gastrointestinal bleeding associated with calcific aortic stenosis

Gastrointestinal bleeding is not rare in patients with calcific aortic stenosis (AS) in Western countries, which has suggested an association between the two conditions. However, there has been no previous report of this association in Japan. In this report we describe a patient with AS who had recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding. An 84-year-old female who had been followed for severe AS presented with recurrent rectal bleeding, but the site of bleeding could not be detected despite various examinations, including endoscopy. She died of progressive heart failure during hospitalization. Postmortem examination disclosed severe left ventricular hypertrophy with calcific aortic stenosis. Microscopically, angiodysplastic lesions were observed in the submucosa throughout the gastrointestinal tract.