How Is Gi Bleed Diagnosed

Doctors most often use upper GI endoscopy and colonoscopy to test for acute GI bleeding in the upper and lower GI tracts. Upper GI endoscopy. In an upper GI endoscopy, your doctor feeds an endoscope down your esophagus and into your stomach and duodenum.

How do you test for a GI bleed?

The test used most often to look for the cause of GI bleeding is called endoscopy. It uses a flexible instrument inserted through the mouth or rectum to view the inside of the GI tract. A type of endoscopy called colonoscopy looks at the large intestine.

What is the most definitive indicator of a GI bleed?

Blood exiting the GI tract is the best and most definitive indicator of GI bleeding. It comes in three forms: hematemesis, hematochezia and melena. Hematemesis is bloody vomit, which can come as either frank red blood or “coffee-ground” colored. A patient with hematemesis is bleeding above the ligament of Treitz.