Gastrointestinal bleeding caused by angiodysplasia: a difficult problem in patients with chronic renal failure receiving hemodialysis therapy.

Anemia in patients with renal failure is a common problem. Bleeding from small angiodysplastic lesions within the gastrointestinal tract appears to be a significant source of blood loss in some patients with renal failure receiving chronic hemodialysis. We describe a group of patients treated with estrogen therapy who had amelioration of their bleeding tendency. Correction of bleeding time may be one potential mechanism for this action.