Digestive hemorrhage is the loss of blood through the digestive tract.
Based on its evolution, this loss can be acute or chronic, depending on the volume of blood lost and the time in which it has been lost.
Un gran volumen perdido en poco tiempo es una hemorragia aguda y pérdidas lentas en un tiempo más largo constituyen una hemorragia crónica.
The most important symptom of acute hemorrhage is the visualization of a belly of fresh, semi-digested blood or as a mane.
They are called melenas to a special type of deposition that is composed of digested blood, and that has a pasty and sticky appearance, bright black (similar to tar), with a very peculiar foul smell like rotten meat. The darker, smelly and digested the blood means that its origin is higher (stomach, duodenum, upper portions of the small intestine).
If the blood is fresh, bright red and hardly smell, it usually means that its origin is close to the anus. In some cases of high bleeding, especially if it is important or is accompanied by vomiting, blood may be expelled from the mouth, either fresh or as coffee grounds (hematemesis).
Another frequent symptom is the increase in bowel sounds and a special feeling of "laziness" due to the drop in blood pressure abruptly. In the most important cases appears tachycardia, cold sweat, dizziness, loss of consciousness and even shock. If the bleeding is not controlled, it can have a fatal outcome.
Who can get it:
- People with a history of duodenal or gastric ulcer, especially if they take anti-inflammatories.
- Cirrhosis patients who have large varicose veins in the esophagus or stomach.
- People who have severe vomiting, especially if they are due to excessive alcohol intake.
- The elderly with diverticula or angiodysplasias.
- Patients with valvular heart disease, especially if they take anticoagulants.
- People with advanced renal failure.
- Patients who have had an endoscopy in which polyps have been removed.
- People who take anti-inflammatory, antiplatelet or anticoagulants, especially if they are elderly or have another associated cause.
In the hemorrhages that are controlled, the prognosis depends on the hemorrhage being repeated and on the proper treatment of the cause that produced it.
Today, treatments to cut the bleeding, if it is located, are effective.