Angiodysplasia of the colon

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Digestive system organs

Angiodysplasia of the colon

Alternative Names:

Vascular ectasia of the colon; Colonic arteriovenous malformation; Colonic angiomas
Symptoms:

The symptoms vary. Often, in elderly patients, the symptoms are anemia, weakness, fatigue, and shortness of breath. There may not be any signs of bleeding directly from the colon. Others may haveoccasional mild or severe bleeding episodes with bright red blood coming from the rectum.

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Some patients may have dark or black, tarry stools. There is no pain associated with angiodysplasia.

Signs and tests:

Colonoscopy -- Examining the walls of the colon using a camera on the end of a long tube inserted into the rectum.

Angiography -- Injecting dye into the veins to visualize any leakage of the dye from the arteries/veins into the colon. This is visualized with x-rays. This test is only useful if there is active bleeding into the colon.

CBC -- A blood test that measures the amount of red blood cells in your system. A low amount suggests bleeding from the colon.

Stool guaiac -- A test to look for blood in the stool that cannot be seen by the naked eye. Small amounts of stool are placed on 3 cards and analyzed at the doctor's office. The samples are checked for any evidence of blood. A positive test result suggests bleeding from the colon.