Case records of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Weekly clinicopathological exercises. Case 41-1991. A 76-year-old man with recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding

A single-center United States experience with bleeding Dieulafoy lesions of the small bowel: diagnosis and treatment with single-balloon enteroscopy

INTRODUCTION

A Dieulafoy lesion (DL) of the small bowel can cause severe gastrointestinal bleeding, and presents a difficult clinical setting for endoscopists. Limited data exists on the therapeutic yield of treating DLs of the small bowel using single-balloon enteroscopy (SBE).

METHODS

Data were collected from Tampa General Hospital a 1 018-bed teaching hospital affiliated with University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. Patients were selected from a database of patients that underwent SBE from January 2010 - August 2013.

RESULTS

Eight patients were found to have DL an incidence of 2.6 % of 309 SBE performed for obscure gastrointestinal bleeding. 7/8 were identified in the jejunum, with one found in the duodenum. The mean age of patients with DL was 71.5 years old. 6/8 patients were on some form of anticoagulant/antiplatelet agent. The primary modality of therapy employed was electrocautery, multipolar electrocoagulation in seven patients and APC (argon plasma coagulation) in one patient. In three patients, electrocoagulation was unsuccessful and hemostasis was achieved with clip placement. Three patients required repeat SBE with one found to have rebleeding from a failed clip with hemostasis achieved upon reapplication of one clip.

CONCLUSION

In our United States' experience, SBE offers a reasonable therapeutic approach to treat DL of the small bowel with low rates of rebleeding, no adverse events, and no patient requiring surgery.

Dieulafoy's lesion-like bleeding: an underrecognized cause of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage in patients with advanced liver disease

Dieulafoy's lesion is a gastrointestinal submucosal artery that ruptures into the lumen causing massive hemorrhage. Until recently, failure to diagnose and treat patients endoscopically may have necessitated blind gastrectomy. Because arteriolar spider nevi abound in patients with liver disease and bleeding from such lesions has been described in the upper gastrointestinal tract, we reviewed our experience to determine whether a diagnosis of advanced liver disease could facilitate recognition and treatment of this type of arterial bleeding. Endoscopy records from 1991 to 1996 for all cases of upper gastrointestinal bleeding at our institution were reviewed. Dieulafoy's lesion-like bleeding was defined as arterial-type bleeding with no evidence of mucosal ulceration or erosions. Advanced liver disease was defined as signs of portal hypertension and/or cirrhosis or infiltrative liver disease. Dieulafoy's lesion-like bleeding was the cause in 6 of 4569 cases (0.13%). Five patients with Dieulafoy's lesion-like gastrointestinal hemorrhage had advanced liver disease compared with 954 of 4569 of all patients endoscoped for gastrointestinal hemorrhage for the period evaluated (OR = 19.04; 95% CI 2.1-900.8; p < 0.002 by Fisher's exact test). Dieulafoy's lesion-like bleeding was treated successfully with epinephrine injection and endoscopic cauterization in 5 of 6 patients with 1 patient requiring surgery. No other clinical associations were evident. Dieulafoy's lesion-like bleeding occurs more commonly in patients with advanced liver disease and should be included as a potential cause for bleeding in advanced liver disease and aggressively sought.

Dieulafoy's disease treated by endoscopic haemostatic clipping

Dieulafoy's disease is an uncommon cause of upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage. We report three patients with Dieulafoy's disease treated with the endoscopic haemostatic clip application. There was no recurrent bleeding from the upper gastrointestinal tract after application of the clips in all three patients. Two patients survived while the third succumbed to renal failure after hypovolaemic shock. We conclude that endoscopic haemostatic clip may have a role in the treatment of Dieulafoy's disease.

Extragastric Dieulafoy's disease as unusual source of intestinal bleeding. Esophageal visible vessel

Dieulafoy's disease is a gastric vascular malformation, which typically causes massive hemorrhage. The lesion is most often found in the proximal stomach, but has also been reported in the esophagus and in the small intestine. Three patients with esophageal Dieulafoy's anomaly and recurrent bleeding are reported. For the first time, transendoscopic Doppler ultrasound was used to identify arterial blood flow from the lesions. The ulcerations were treated by injection of adrenaline. Successful therapy resulted in the disappearance of arterial pulsations and no rebleeding occurred. Doppler-controlled endoscopic intervention should be the first line of treatment in the esophageal vessel stump.

Doppler-controlled injection treatment of Dieulafoy's disease

Dieulafoy's anomaly is a vascular malformation of the upper stomach, which typically causes massive and recurrent haemorrhage. Emergency endoscopy is the most effective method of diagnosing the disease. Until recently, the therapy of choice was surgical resection. Five patients with spontaneously stopped bleeding from Dieulafoy's ulceration were investigated. Transendoscopic Doppler ultrasound was used to identify arterial blood flow from the lesions. Local injection treatment was performed. Successful therapy resulted in the disappearance of arterial pulsations and no rebleeding occurred. The endoscopic Doppler is of diagnostic value in the evaluation of Dieulafoy's ulcer and enables control of endoscopic sclerotherapy.