A 78-year-old man presenting with chronic renal failure was admitted to the emergency department of our hospital for bleeding per rectum.
The hemoglobin level was 10.5 g/dL on admission. Given that the patient was hemodynamically stable, decision was made to perform an upper GI endoscopy and a total colonoscopy the following day after standard bowel preparation. Bleeding recurred during the night with a hemoglobin drop to 6.3g/dL, requiring transfusions of 3 Units of blood.
With no further delay, endoscopy was performed. The gastroscopy was normal but at colonoscopy old blood was visualized in the rectum, the sigmoid, and the left and transverse colon. Additional bright red blood was observed at the level of the right colon.