Usefulness of early colonoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of moderate or severe lower gastrointestinal bleeding

Abstract

A total of 38,686 colonoscopies were performed between January 1985 and December 2012 at Hospital Sírio-Libanês, in São Paulo, Brazil. Two hundred thirty-four patients (0.6%) had acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding of moderate or severe intensity. A definitive diagnosis was possible in 151 cases, 64.5% of these patients.This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board. Medical charts were reviewed.All examinations were done under sedation by the same medical team.The predominant sources of bleeding were colonic diverticula (73 patients; 31%), ischemic or infectious colitis (18 patients; 7.7%) and radiation proctitis (18 patients; 7.7%).A specific therapeutic intervention was performed on 61 of the 151 patients who had the diagnosis confirmed (40.4%), according to the source of bleeding. Most patients with postpolypectomy bleeding were treated with injection of epinephrine (40%) and clipping (40%). Patients with angiodysplasia were treated predominantly with argon plasma coagulation (42%).Injection of epinephrine was the most frequent treatment, regardless of the source of bleeding (34.4%), followed by argon plasma coagulation (31.1%).Control of active hemorrhage was achieved endoscopically in 98.8% of the patients.Our data shows that early colonoscopy in the management of patients with suspected acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding is a useful tool for diagnosis and treatment.