2011 Volume 60 Issue 4 Pages 113-116
A 62-year-old man with a 10-year history of chronic recurrent intestinal bleeding was admitted to our hospital. Abdominal X-ray and computed tomography (CT) showed air-fluid levels in the intestine, but we were unable to find the site of gastrointestinal bleeding on colonoscopy or abdominal scintigrams with 99mTc. The patient subsequently passed massive bloody stool and collapsed, necessitating emergency surgery. Intraoperative enteroscopy showed no active bleeding site, however, on visual examination, we detected the predominant site of bleeding in the ascending colon. Thus, we performed right hemicolectomy. Histopathology of a polyp from the cecum revealed angiodysplasia. This case demonstrates that surgery should not be postponed for life-threatening hemorrhage, even when the bleeding site is not clear.
