Learning About Angioectasia (Angiodysplasia) of the Gastrointestinal Tract

Angioectasia (also called angiodysplasia) of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a condition in which abnormal blood vessels form in your GI tract. The GI tract includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, and anus. These abnormal blood vessels can occur anywhere in the GI tract but are most often found in the colon and small intestine.

The exact cause is not fully understood. Experts believe it may develop from age-related changes and repeated stress on small blood vessels in the GI tract over time. This can cause the blood vessels to become enlarged, fragile, and prone to bleeding.

Changes in the body’s signals that control blood vessel growth may also play a role. This could make your body grow misshapen blood vessels in your GI tract.

Many people don't have symptoms.You can have wounds (lesions) in your GI tract that bleed sometimes, often, or not at all. If you have bleeding, you may see blood in your stool.

You may also have iron deficiency anemia because of bleeding in your GI tract, even if you don’t notice any blood in your stool. This type of anemia means that your body doesn't have the iron it needs to make enough red blood cells. This can make you feel tired or weak. Sometimes this is the only symptom people have.

Your risk increases as you get older. This condition usually affects people over 60 years of age. Your risk also can increase if you have:

• Chronic kidney disease.
• End-stage kidney disease.
• Von Willebrand disease.
• Heart disease.
• Aortic stenosis.
• Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs).

If you have GI bleeding, you'll likely have an endoscopy. In this procedure, a thin flexible tube with a camera and light attached to the end is inserted into the body. You may have an upper endoscopy to look into the stomach and small intestine. Or you may have a colonoscopy to look inside the rectum and colon.

Sometimes a capsule endoscopy is done to check for lesions and bleeding. For this test, you swallow a small pill with a camera inside that takes images of your body as it moves through your digestive tract.

A CT scan (a type of imaging test like an X-ray) can also be done. You are given an intravenous (I.V.) line of contrast fluid that allows a doctor to see inside your body on a digital scan.

If you don’t have any symptoms, you may find out that you have this condition through another test, such as a routine colonoscopy.

If you have angioectasia of the GI tract but don't have any symptoms, you may not need any treatment.

If you have symptoms and are bleeding, your doctor may recommend treatment with:

• Endoscopy. This could be an upper endoscopy or a colonoscopy.
• Angiography. A doctor inserts a catheter into a blood vessel, adds a dye, and then takes X-ray images to find and treat areas that are bleeding.
• Surgery to remove areas of serious bleeding.

You may also be prescribed iron supplements or blood transfusions to improve your blood levels.