Angiodysplasia

Angiodysplasia is increasingly recognised as a cause of acute or chronic gastrointestinal bleeding in the elderly. Colonic angiodysplasia is a degenerative vascular lesion of the colon associated with ageing ; it should not be confused with congenital or neoplastic vascular lesions of the gastrointestinal tract. It is a well-defined clinical and pathological entity with a clear predilection for the right colon.
Diagnosis of angiodysplasia has been facilitated by the use of angiographic techniques and colonoscopy.
Although the treatment of choice is right hemicolectomy, endoscopic treatment by laser or electrocoagulation is more and more performed.
Angiodysplasia is a condition where you develop a number of enlarged blood vessels within the inner lining of the colon.
The cause is unknown, but they occur most commonly in older people. Bleeding from an angiodysplasia is painless. The blood seen can range from bright red brisk bleeding, to dark blood mixed with faeces, to melaena. An angiodysplasia may also cause occult blood loss (see below).