How To Stop Gastrointestinal Bleeding With Angiographic Embolization

Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is not a disease, but a symptom caused by another condition. It can occur in any part of your gastrointestinal tract. Your GI tract is made up of the anus, rectum, large intestine, small intestine, stomach and esophagus.

GI bleeding is a potentially life-threatening condition. It is important to find the location, cause and rate of the bleeding. You should schedule an appointment with a vascular radiology doctor as soon as possible. Read on to find out how to stabilize the source of bleeding with angiographic embolization.

What Is The Cause Of The Bleeding?

GI can be caused by many conditions, such as Crohn's disease, parasites, decreased flow of blood to your colon, food poisoning and infections. Hemorrhoids are another common cause of GI bleeding. It occurs when the vein in your anus or rectum becomes enlarged. This enlarged vein can rupture, which results in rectum bleeding. Your doctor can use vascular radiology to determine the cause of the bleeding.

Stop The Bleeding

You must stop the bleeding before treating this condition. It is important to restrict the bleeding to that specific area. One of the ways to stabilize the bleeding site is with angiographic embolization.

What Is Angiographic Embolization

With new developments of microcatheters and embolic materials, embolization has become one of the main treatments for lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Successful angiographic embolization results in bleeding stopping immediately. It also reduces the amount of bowel you risk losing.

An angiographic embolization becomes necessary when a patient has prolonged bleeding. This procedure works by injecting particles directly into your blood vessel to stop the bleeding. After the bleeding site is stopped, your doctor can move on and treat the condition that cause the bleeding. This procedure prevents you from needing surgery.

Treat The Cause Of The Bleeding

If hemorrhoids are the cause for your bleeding, then you must treat this condition to prevent the bleeding from coming back. Sclerotherapy is used as a treatment for bleeding internal hemorrhoids. It works by injecting a chemical into your blood vessel. This solution causes your hemorrhoids to harden, which results in the veins hardening, scarring, and reducing in size.

You should not allow this condition to go untreated. GI bleeding causes your heart rate to increase and your blood pressure to drop. These things must be stabilized. Losing a lot of blood causes anemia. This can result in you needing blood transfusions and IV fluids. The worst-case scenario is needing surgery to stop the bleeding.