Massive Obscure Overt Gastrointestinal Bleed: An Unusual Cause diagnosed by Capsule Endoscopy

Abstract

Common causes for obscure overt gastrointestinal bleeding originating from the small bowel include small bowel angioectasias, Crohn's disease, ulcers and tumors. In tropical countries, intestinal ulcerations secondary to tuberculosis and parasitic infestations have also been described as causes of gastrointestinal bleeding. We present a very unusual case of massive obscure overt gastrointestinal bleeding due to massive hookworm infestation of the small bowel that was diagnosed by capsule endoscopy and successfully treated with oral albendazole. How to cite this article Rao C, Sharma A, Rana SS, Bhauwala A, Singh S, Singh K, Bhasin DK. Massive Obscure Overt Gastrointestinal Bleed: An Unusual Cause diagnosed by Capsule Endoscopy. J Postgrad Med Edu Res 2012;46(1):37-39.

Hookworm in the terminal ileum:a common cause of severe anaemia residing in a rare location

“…Other modality helpful in a clinically suspected case is upper gastro intestinal endoscopy, which detects parasites in their habitat. Apart from cases where hookworms have been recovered from duodenum and jejunum through upper gastro intestinal endoscopy [9][10][11][12][13][14][15], retrieval of hookworms from rare sites of intestine like ileum [3] caecum [3][4],colon [5] intestine(gastric antrum) [6] has also been reported by some workers. The ectopic localization in the antrum has been attributed to jejuno-duodeno-gastric reflux [5] while the recovery of hookworms from the cecum in one report [4] has been attributed to bowel preparation leading to washing the worms downstream.…”