Acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding as a late complication of spinal instrumentation.

Posterior or anterior fusion with spinal instrumentation is a well-known operation for scoliosis. There are multiple potential complications; the most common are blood loss during the initial surgery and wound infection. Vascular injury has been reported. However, to the authors' knowledge, acute gastrointestinal bleeding has not been reported. The authors report on a child who presented 6 years after posterior spinal instrumentation with massive acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding resulting from internal iliac artery injury and bowel perforation. The etiology, diagnosis, and management of such bleeding is reviewed.