Colonic bleeding in the elderly.

In the elderly population bleeding from the colon is not unusual. In evaluating a patient with colonic bleeding, the rate of bleeding should be assessed, and the possibility of upper gastrointestinal and anorectal bleeding should be excluded. The most common cause of massive bleeding from the colon in the elderly patient is diverticulosis, and the next most common cause is angiodysplasia. A number of other less common causes of bleeding should be excluded when making the diagnosis. If angiography is employed and the bleeding site is identified, initial therapy can be started concurrently by either injecting a vasopressor drug intraarterially or by embolization. Failure to stop the bleeding leads to surgery as the next step. If the bleeding stops spontaneously, one can expect recurrence later; therefore an interval work-up is stressed to identify the anatomic area of suspected bleeding. Preoperative identification of the bleeding site is imperative so that a "blind resection" can be avoided.