Gastrointestinal Bleeding

TREATMENT

There are a variety of treatment options, depending on the source of your GI bleeding:

• Endoscopic thermal probe can stop bleeding from ulcers and other abnormalities by burning (coagulating) the blood vessel or abnormal tissue.
• Argon plasma coagulation and radio frequency ablation are other types of thermal techniques used to treat abnormal blood vessels in the stomach, small intestine and colon.
• Endoscopic clips can be used to close a bleeding vessel or other defective tissue.
• Endoscopic band ligation >uses special bands to treat bleeding hemorrhoids and bleeding blood vessels (varices) in the esophagus.
• Endoscopic cryotherapy freezes abnormal blood vessels in the stomach.
• Endoscopic intravariceal cyanoacrylate injection uses a special glue to treat difficult bleeding from varices in the stomach.
• Angiographic embolization injects particles directly into a blood vessel to stop bleeding.

If bleeding recurs after treatment, you may need surgery.