Bleeding from any part of gastrointestinal tract form mouth to anus is defined as gastrointestinal
bleeding, Patient may be having bleeding from the mouth (fresh red or coffee colored altered blood) or in the stool. (which can be red, maroon, black).
Management of GI bleed depends upon magnitude and source of bleed, patients with significant bleed should be admitted and resuscitated with blood and plasma expander infusion. Patient with chronic and small amount of bleed can be investigated as out patient.
Upper GI endoscopy and colonoscopy are the initial investigations for the cause of bleed, if these investigations are normal, next line of investigations are CT enterography and CT angiography, capsule endoscopy and double balloon enteroscopy.
Once the cause is established treatment depends upon cause of bleed and includes ligation for esophageal varices, clip and APC application for ulcers and vascular lesions, and surgery for malignancies
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