UPPER GI BLEEDING

CAUSES

Common

Peptic ulcer (accounts for ∼50%), erosions (gastropathy from alcohol, aspirin, NSAIDs, stress), esophagitis, Mallory-Weiss tear (mucosal tear at gastroesophageal junction due to retching), gastroesophageal varices.

Less Common

Swallowed blood (nosebleed); esophageal, gastric, or intestinal neoplasm; anticoagulant and fibrinolytic therapy; hypertrophic gastropathy (Ménétrier’s disease); aortic aneurysm; aortoenteric fistula (from aortic graft); arteriovenous malformation; telangiectases (Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome); Dieulafoy lesion (ectatic submucosal vessel); vasculitis; connective tissue disease (pseudoxanthoma elasticum, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome); blood dyscrasias; neurofibroma; amyloidosis; hemobilia (biliary origin).

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