[Diagnosis and management of lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Retrospective analysis of 233 cases].

In a retrospective analysis the diagnostic procedure was evaluated in patients with acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Bleeding sources were localized distally to the ligament of Treitz in 233 patients (1979-1988). Patients with hemorrhoidal bleeding were not included. Following exclusion of an upper gastrointestinal bleeding the diagnostic procedure was initiated with a recto-/colonoscopy. Lesions were detected in 77% of the treated patients (n = 136). Angiography localized the bleeding in 68%, in combination with colonoscopy the identification of the bleeding source reached 86.5% in the treated patients. Following scintigraphy the bleeding source was determined in 89.7% of these patients. The sensitivity of colonoscopy (0.93) was superior to the angiography (0.78) and to the scintigraphy (0.75). Apart from neoplasms and adenomas angiodysplasia and Meckel's diverticula were the most common sources of the bleeding in patients who underwent operation. In 61 patients endoscopic therapy was performed, however, 6.5% of these patients had to be operated on later because of persistent bleeding. All together 79 patients underwent operation, 31 for bleeding and 48 for other reasons. 12 patients died, 6 of them were operated on for the bleeding, the other for neoplasms.