Dieulafoy's lesion of the colon and rectum: a case series and literature review.

Dieulafoy's lesion is a dilated, aberrant, submucosal vessel that erodes the overlying epithelium without obvious ulceration. It is most commonly located in the lesser curvature of the stomach but rare occurrences in extragastric sites have also been reported. Herein, we describe a case series of three patients who presented with lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Colonoscopy revealed a caliber-persistent tortuous submucosal artery protruding into the lumen of the colon or rectum. The patients were diagnosed with Dieulafoy's lesion and primary haemostasis was achieved with the endoscopic haemoclip application. The purpose of this review is to summarise the available data on the pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and management of patients with Dieulafoy's lesion of the colon and rectum. © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.