Gastrointestinal angiodysplasia as a cause of hemorrhage in the digestive tract and treatment

Gastrointestinal angiodysplasia is a cause of gastrointestinal bleeding in the elderly, for which surgery has been the only treatment. Estrogen has been reported beneficial in some cases in the past decade. Recurrent bleeding due to angiodysplasia occurred from the small intestine in a 75-year-old woman, and from the right colon in a 91-year-old man. The diagnoses were made by angiography in the first case and colonoscopy and erythrocyte- scanning in the second. There was aortic stenosis in both, a combination which has been reported in other cases. Both patients improved with estrogen therapy. However, after temporary stabilization, gastrointestinal bleeding recurred in the second patient and he was successfully operated on.