الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Until recently, massive hemorrhage from the lower gastrointestinal tract was one of the most difficult diagnostic and therapeutic challenges • Such bleeding is often life-threatening and usually occurs in patients in the seventh or eighth decade of life who often have severe coexisting cardiopulmonary disease • Lower gastro-intestinal bleeding originates from lesions distal to ligament of treitz • The causes of lower gastrointestinal bleeding vary according to age. In infants and children, the most common causes are Meckel’s diverticulum and polyps, in adolescent and young adult Meckel’s diverticulum and inflammatory bowel diseases, in adults up to 60 years diverticulosis and inflammatory bowel diseases and in adults more than 60 years vascular ectasia, diverticulosis and malignancy. Although new diagnostic techniques are ’developed endoscopyiand barium stu-dies are still the first lines of diagnosis • Conventional radiologic gastrointestinal series fail to show the source of haemorrhage in 20-25% of bleeding patients • Fibroptic colonoscopy is indicated to obtain biopsy from possible abnormality in a satisf¬actory double contrast enema andin persistent colonic |