Abstract
An 81-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of bloody bowel discharge. Colonoscopy revealed dilatation and gently swelling of the blood vessel in the transverse colon in the hepatic flexure region. Colonic angiodysplasia was diagnosed.
Anemia progressed despite repeated blood transfusion, hense partial resection for the transverse colon was performed. Histopathological examination revealed dilated blood vessel mainly in the submucosal layer, a finding consistent with colonic angiodysplasia.
Colonic angiodysplasia in a narrow sense is one of the causes of bloody bowel discharge in elderly patients, and is considered to be a lesion due to degenerative changes for the blood vessels as a result for aging. The present case corresponds to such narrowly defined colonic angiodysplasia. Colonoscopy is useful in diagnosis.
The possibility of colonic angiodysplasia has to be suspected in elderly patients with lower digestive tract bleeding. As for therapy, endoscopic treatment which is relatively simple and less invasive is generally considered the first option. In the present case, however, the lesion was extensive and situated in an area difficult for endoscopic treatment. Surgical treatment was therefore performed.
