Cardiovascular causes of gastrointestinal bleeding
VIVIANA AURSULESEI, GEORGIANA-EMMANUELA GÎLCĂ-BLANARIU, GABRIELA ȘTEFĂNESCUABSTRACT. The gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) of cardiovascular causes represents a practical issue requiring a multidisciplinary approach. It may clinically manifest either as an acute life-threatening episode or as an obscure gastrointestinal bleeding. The diagnostic algorithm includes various imaging techniques, chosen according to the clinical context, the would-be bleeding source, the severity and the potential for active bleeding. The therapeutic resources are complex, requiring judicious choice, since such GIB causes arise in a patient category with frequently severe comorbidities. Knowing the relationship between GIB and cardiovascular involvement is of particular interest, considering the increasing prevalence of this pathology, along with the use of antithrombotic agents and the frequent association of vascular pathology and its greater haemodynamic impact among geriatric population. pp. 65–76
Keywords: gastrointestinal bleeding; vascular malformations; vascular cause; cardiac cause; aneurysms; acute mesenteric infarction; acute colic ischemia