Acute Lower Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGI) presenting with hematochezia occurs commonly and is an important cause of morbidity and rarely mortality. Although most patients (>80%) will stop bleeding, patients with severe hematochezia have improved outcomes, such as decreased hospital stay and direct costs, if managed with a strategy of adequate colon purge before urgent colonoscopy by experienced colonoscopist, careful hemostasis of focal lesions and angiomas. With this approach, patients with severe hematochezia will also have a specific diagnosis made, and the information from urgent colonoscopy is useful to individualize acute and long-term care.