Question

What do the different presentations of GI Bleed mean? Eg. Hematochezia vs coffee ground emesis vs melena vs bright red vomit

Answer 1

INTRODUCTION

The GI tract is also called as digestive tract. GI tract is a series of hollow organs joined in a long, twisting tube from the mouth to the anus. The hollow organs that make up the GI tract are esophagus , stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and anus. The liver, pancreas, and gallbladder are the solid organs of the digestive system. The primary purpose of the gastrointestinal tract is to break food down into nutrients, which can be absorbed into the body to provide energy.

Gastrointestinal (GI)bleeding is a symptom of a disorder in your digestive tract. The blood often appears in stool or vomit but is not 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. GI bleeding is not a disease, but a symptom of a disease. There are many possible causes of GI bleeding, including haemorrhoids, peptic ulcers, tears or inflammation in the esophagus, diverticulosis and diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, colonic polyps, or cancer in the colon, stomach or esophagus.

Depending upon the sevearity of bleeding GI bleeding can be classified as Acute and Chronic

• Hematemesis is the vomiting of blood, which may be obviously red or have an appearance similar to coffee grounds.

• Melena is the passage of black, tarry stools. It bleed from the right colon or the small intestine can present with melena.

• Hematochezia is lower GI tract bleeding, passage of fresh blood through anus, usually in or with stools.

That is Bright red bleeding is fresh bleeding from GI tract, dark blood in stool indicates GI bleed slowed or stopped. GI bleed has variety of causes and it need immediate medical attention and treatment.