Small Bowel Bleeding
Several factors make small bowel bleeding (SBB) increasingly common in clinical practice. Medical advances have extended the lives of patients with advanced comorbidities including chronic kidney disease, cirrhosis, heart failure, valvular heart disease, pulmonary hypertension, vascular occlusive disease, and myelodysplasia, all of which are associated with SBB, particularly from small bowel angioectasias (SBAEs). Furthermore, the use and potency of antithrombotic agents are increasing. At the same time, the wide use of anti-secretory therapy, efforts to identify and eradicate H. pylori infection, and increases in colorectal cancer screening and diagnostic upper endoscopy have decreased the incidence of other sources of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding such as peptic ulcer disease and malignancy.
