3. Overview
Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is a symptom of a disorder in your
digestive tract. The blood often appears in stool or vomit but
isn’t always visible, though it may cause the stool to look black
or tarry. The level of bleeding can range from mild to severe
and can be life-threatening.
4. Symptoms
Vomiting blood, which might be red or might be dark brown and resemble
coffee grounds in texture
Black, tarry stool
Rectal bleeding, usually in or with stooL
Lightheadedness
Difficulty breathing
Fainting
Chest pain
Abdominal pain
5. Causes
Upper GI bleeding
Peptic ulcer
Tears in the lining of the tube that connects your throat to your stomach (esophagus )
Abnormal, enlarged veins in the esophagus (esophageal varices)
Esophagitis
Lower GI bleeding
Diverticular disease
Tumors
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Colon polyps
6. Risk factors
Chronic vomiting.
Alcoholism.
Medications, including but not limited to. Non-steroidal anti-
inflammatories (NSAIDs); commonly used NSAIDs include.
Aspirin. Ibuprofen (Advil) Naproxen (Aleve) Anticoagulants.
Gastrointestinal surgery.
8. Prevention
To help prevent a GI bleed:
Limit your use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Limit your use of alcohol.
If you smoke, quit.
If you have GERD, follow your doctor’s instructions for treating
it.
9. Diagnosis
Blood tests. You may need a complete blood count, a test to see how
fast your blood clots, a platelet count and liver function tests.
Stool tests. Analyzing your stool can help determine the cause of occult
bleeding
Upper endoscopy. This procedure uses a tiny camera on the end of a
long tube, which is passed through your mouth to enable your doctor to
examine your upper gastrointestinal tract.
Imaging tests. A variety of other imaging tests, such as an abdominal CT
scan, might be used to find the source of the bleed
10.
11. Treatment
Inject medicines into the bleeding site.
Treat the bleeding site and surrounding tissue
with a heat probe, an electric current, or a laser.
Close affected blood vessels with a band or clip.
12. Medicines
When infections or ulcers cause bleeding in your GI tract, health
care professionals prescribe medicines to treat the problem
Surgery
When a person has severe acute bleeding or bleeding that does
not stop, a surgeon may need to perform a laparoscopy or a
laparotomy to stop the bleeding.
13. Clinical trials
Explore Mayo Clinic studies testing new treatments,
interventions and tests as a means to prevent, detect,
treat or manage this condition.
14. Pathogenesis
The main inciting event in the pathogenesis of upper
gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is damage to mucosal
injury. This mucosal injury can occur at various levels of
GI tract. If the damage and bleeding is confined up to
ligament of Treitz, it is defined as upper GI bleeding.
