ABSTRACT

Among hospital visits, gastrointestinal bleeding is one of the most common disease of gastrointestinal (GI) system, particularly in elderly. Causes of lower GI bleeding includes ischaemic colitis, anorectal lesions and diverticulosis being the most common (50 %). Acute lower GI bleeding account for 20% of all GI bleeding cases. Although great improvements have been achieved to identify the focus of bleeding by diagnostic methods since 4 decades, it is still a problem to localize the lesion site by using an algorithmic approach. Lesion is generally localized at colonic level, and is self limited. Colonoscopy with advanced endoscopic methods is a very important modality in management of lower GI bleeding. But, since it is an invasive method besides its difficuilty in application in routine practice, more randomized controlled trials are needed to develop new diagnostic strategies. Recent reports on enhanced multidetector computarized tomography (EMDCT) show that it is a minimally invasive method that can be used easily in emergent cases and its efficacy is confirmed. We showed that EMDCT can be effective in identifiying the focus of hemorrhage in lower GI bleeding, with this case report.

Keywords: Lower gastrointestinal bleeding, Enhanced Multidetector Computerized Tomography, emergency, diagnosis