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Case Reports
. 2018 Feb 27;8(1):e2018006.
doi: 10.4322/acr.2018.006. eCollection 2018 Jan-Mar.

Gastric lethal hemorrhage due to Dieulafoy's disease

Cesar Cilento Ponce  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Gastric lethal hemorrhage due to Dieulafoy's disease

Cesar Cilento Ponce. Autops Case Rep. .

Abstract

Gastric Dieulafoy's lesion (DL) is a potentially fatal entity that causes upper digestive hemorrhage as a consequence of the erosion of an abnormal large-caliber artery in the submucosa of the gastrointestinal tract. We report the case of a 59-year-old female patient admitted to the emergency facility due to melena without any active sign of bleeding during the esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Unexpectedly, she progressed presenting a massive hematemesis followed by an irreversible cardiorespiratory arrest. The aim of this study is to draw attention to DL as a possible cause of massive and fatal digestive hemorrhage, and to describe the anatomical autopsy findings.

Keywords: Autopsy; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage; Stomach Diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Gross view of the formalin-fixed gastric mucosa showing erosion measuring 3 mm in the gastric mucosa (arrowhead).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Large-Caliber and tortuous artery in the formalin-fixed serosa of the stomach.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Formalin-fixed gastric wall sections with a dilated blood vessel visible in the submucosa (arrowhead).
Figure 4
Figure 4. Photomicrography of the artery. A – Dilated artery with mucosa superficial erosion (H&E, 400X); B – Submucosal artery with thick wall and amyloid (crystal violet, 400X).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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