Tranexamic acid in treatment-resistant chronic transfusion-dependent gastrointestinal angiodysplasia bleeding

A small proportion of gastrointestinal angiodysplasia bleeding leads to chronic blood cell transfusion dependency. There are no guidelines supporting decision-making among various treatments in patients with gastrointestinal angiodysplasia bleeding. When endoscopic argon plasma coagulation is ineffective, the angiogenesis inhibitors thalidomide and octreotide can be considered. We describe a 77-year-old woman who had side effects of these angiogenesis inhibitors, which caused her to have continued bleeding. She was successfully treated with tranexamic acid with a substantial decrease in need for red blood cell transfusions.