Prevalence of mid-gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with acute overt gastrointestinal bleeding: multi-center experience with 1,044 consecutive patients.

Background: Video capsule endoscopy (VCE) and double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) enable the detection of small intestinal lesions.

Objective: To examine causes of acute overt gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding and the prevalence of mid-GI bleeding, defined as small intestinal bleeding from the ampulla of Vater to the terminal ileum, in a multi-center experience in Japan in the VCE/DBE era.

Methods: Data were collected retrospectively from consecutive patients with acute overt GI bleeding in ten participating hospitals. All patients were examined by esophagogastroduodenoscopy and/or colonoscopy. When the source of bleeding was not identified after these procedures, patients suspected to have mid-GI bleeding were referred to our hospital and VCE/DBE was performed to determine the source of bleeding.

Results: Of the 1044 patients with acute overt GI bleeding, 524 (50.2%) patients were diagnosed with upper GI bleeding, 442 (42.3%) with lower GI bleeding, and 13 (1.2%) with mid-GI bleeding. Gastric ulcer was the most common cause of bleeding (20.4%). Among cases of mid-GI bleeding, ulcers were found in 4 (30.8%) patients, erosions in 3 (23.1%), angiodysplasia in 3 (23.1%), submucosal tumor in 2 (15.4%), and hemangioma in one (7.7%). Seven lesions were located in the jejunum, 5 in the ileum, and one in both the jejunum and ileum. Analysis of age-related cause showed that the prevalence of mid-GI bleeding among younger patients under 40 years of age was higher (5%) than in other age groups (1-2%).

Conclusions: mid-GI bleeding is rare among Japanese patients with acute overt GI bleeding.