Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding is often a diagnostic challenge for the primary care physician, but with improvements in diagnostic testing the cause of such blood loss is determined in most patients. However, in approximately 5% of the cases, the source of bleeding is not identifiable. One common etiology in patients younger than 40 years of age is Meckel’s diverticulum. Technetium-99m perte...

In summary, the causes of GI bleeding in infancy and childhood are varied, ranging from congenital and hereditary disorders to those more commonly seen in the adult population. Many causes of GI bleeding in the pediatric population are restricted to a narrow range regarding age of onset, frequently enabling the physician to narrow the differential diagnosis before proceeding with invasive inves...

Bleeding from ectopic varices, which is rare in patients with portal hypertension, is generally massive and life-threatening. Forty-three patients were hospitalized in our ward for gastrointestinal bleeding from ectopic varices. The frequency of ectopic varices was 43/1218 (3.5%) among portal hypertensive patients in our ward. The locations of the ectopic varices were rectal in thirty-two, duod...

1 Fever 2 Dermatitis 3 Leucopaenia with or without granulocytopaenia. 4 Agranulocytosis 5 Mild anaemia 6 Bleeding from the nose 7 Profuse menses 8 Bleeding from the bowel 9 Haemoptysis 10 Bleeding from the gums 11 Breathlessness with or without cyanosis 12 Numbness and tingling of fingers and toes 13 Herpes zoster 14 Diminished acuity of vision 15 Vestibular dysfunction?vertigo, tinnitus and sl...

Small bowel bleeding should be considered in patients who continue to bleed despite a negative upper endoscopy and colonoscopy. The differential diagnosis of small bowel bleeding can include infection, inflammatory conditions, vascular malformations, and, rarely, malignancy. This report demonstrates a rare, primary, small bowel, reticular cell sarcoma presenting as an overt gastrointestinal ble...

This case illustrates a rare cause of gastro-intestinal bleeding following bariatric surgery. Though it is essential to rule out common causes of variceal formation accompanied by intermittent, profuse bleeding, there should be a high degree of suspicion of this rare etiology in patients who have previously undergone alteration of their anatomy, especially Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). The c...

An ethnically Chinese patient with newly diagnosed metastatic gastro-intestinal stromal tumour initially treated with imatinib mesylate developed severe interstitial lung disease. As his condition improved after cessation of imatinib mesylate and treatment with corticosteroids, he was started on sunitinib malate. His clinical course was then unfortunately complicated with intra-tumour bleeding....

The patients on anticoagulation therapy especially warfarin can develop gastrointestinal bleed, gum bleeding, hematuria or ecchymosis. Rarely do such patients present with hemoperitoneum producing symptoms. Hemoperitoneum can produce shock, cause compression symptoms or may even be fatal. Such patients can be managed conservatively or may need surgical exploration for ongoing bleeding or decomp...

Dyskeratosis congenita (DC) is a rare inherited disease in which the telomere complex cannot be maintained. Shortened telomeres can cause a number of clinical conditions. We herein report a case of unrelated bone marrow transplantation due to aplastic anemia associated with DC. The patient died of uncontrollable refractory intestinal bleeding. Three cases of DC with life-threatening hemorrhagin...

We present a case of obscure gastro-intestinal bleeding due to small bowel angiodysplasia in a 68-year-old woman with severe aortic valve stenosis. The diagnosis was confirmed and subsequently managed using single-balloon enteroscopy.