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Case Reports
. 2023 Aug 17:22:862-866.
doi: 10.17179/excli2023-6407. eCollection 2023.

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to Dieulafoy's lesion of the stomach: a rare case report

Affiliations
Case Reports

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to Dieulafoy's lesion of the stomach: a rare case report

Alsalt Al-Busaidi et al. EXCLI J. .

Abstract

Dieulafoy's lesion is a life-threatening and rare vascular malformation of the submucosal vessel that protrudes to the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract. The vessel is abnormally dilated, and if it ruptures, it can cause severe acute gastrointestinal bleeding. We report an upper GI bleeding case due to Dieulafoy's lesion in the gastric fundus of the stomach in a 76-year-old female. The patient presented with hematemesis and melena associated with anemia. An esophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD) was performed which showed profuse pulsatile bleeding at the gastric fundus. Following that, gastrotomy confirmed the diagnosis of Dieulafoy's lesion. Endoscopy is the main diagnostic and therapeutic tool for Dieulafoy's lesion. Endoscopic treatment includes injective, ablative and mechanical therapies. The majority of cases are treated endoscopically, while in some cases, surgical intervention is deemed to be necessary as it is currently the only definitive treatment of Dieulafoy's lesion.

Keywords: Dieulafoy's lesion; exulceratio simplex; hematemesis; pulsatile bleeding; upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD) showing profuse pulsatile bleeding at the gastric fundus with an adherent clot (pointed by the arrow)

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