Bleeding from the anus: causes and treatment

Bleeding from the anus: causes and treatment

The causes of bleeding from the anus in men are quite diverse. Most often, the blood from the anus in men is a sign of diseases or injuries of the lower intestine, large intestine. But other diseases, including those not related to the gastrointestinal tract, can also lead to this symptom. Why can there be scant or profuse bleeding from the anus, blood after a bowel movement, in which cases the stool with blood is accompanied by pain and which doctor should be consulted for diagnosis and therapy?

When bleeding from the anus is a reason for an emergency visit to the doctor?

In the absolute majority of cases, the blood during stool in the feces or its discharge from the anus during defecation in men without pain, pain in the anus, the detection of marks on underwear, hygiene products should become a reason for examination by specialists. Blood with feces in men (even if the bowel movement is free of pain) may indicate a multitude of diseases and pathologies, ranging from practically harmless mucosal cracks and ending with intestinal cancer, leukemia and other life-threatening diseases.

However, there are a number of bleeding characteristics where emergency help is vital. The call of the ambulance team or immediate hospitalization should be accompanied by the following manifestations:

  • if there is also an increase in body temperature during bleeding, severe pain in the peritoneum;
  • when the discharge of blood from the anus is accompanied by signs of a general deterioration of well-being, confusion or impairment of consciousness, considerable weakness, and so on;
  • when bleeding from the anus is not the only one, and subcutaneous hemorrhages (hematomas arising without prior injuries), nosebleeds join it;
  • in the release of blood clots, heavy and prolonged bleeding, threatening significant blood loss;
  • If anal bleeding is combined with nausea and frequent vomiting, blood inclusions are also found in vomit.

All the above symptom complexes are signs of conditions that threaten health and life due to injuries, pathologies, infectious and somatic diseases in the acute stage. Self-treatment or waiting for a visit to the doctor at the clinic in such cases is unacceptable.

What kind of diseases can a discharge of blood from the anus be?

Isolation of blood from the anus, blood during bowel movements is a polyvariant symptom that accompanies many diseases. When taking the medical history, the specialist will first of all focus on whether blood is secreted during bowel movements in men without pain, or there are pains of a different nature, whether blood appears during bowel movements or after it, what color it is. Blood scarlet from the anus during bowel movements is interpreted as a symptom differently than latent bleeding in the upper intestine or stomach, which manifests itself not scarlet, but dark brown, almost black blood, often determined only in the analysis of feces.

The gender of the patient is also important: although the causes of bleeding from the anus are the same for men and women, during gestation and after childbirth, women are more likely to experience the effects of varicose veins in the lower intestines, stagnation of blood supply in the pelvic organs and the effects of delivery.

Common causes of blood discharge:

Gastrointestinal Diseases Infectious, parasitic diseases Diseases of the blood and organs of the hematopoietic system
hemorrhoids of different stages, fracture of the mucous membrane, trauma of the anus complicated enterovirus, rotavirus infections; leukemia, leukemia;
erosive form of gastritis, bleeding from an ulcer on the gastric mucosa, the surface of the duodenum; dysentery, abdominal typhoid; blood clots in splash vessels, etc.
esophageal varices; hemorrhagic fever of various origins;
complications of cirrhosis; salmonellosis;
tumors in the digestive organs, intestinal polyps; intestinal lesions by genital infections (with syphilis, gonorrhea);
Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis ; damage to the intestinal mucosa by the herpes virus;
tuberculous intestinal lesions. parasitosis, accompanied by worm infestations into the intestinal wall.

The Basics of the Differential Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Diseases Associated with Bleeding from the Anus

Somatic and infectious diseases of the digestive system, especially in the acute stage, are expressed by a symptom complex, in which blood can also be noted from the anus during bowel movement, straining or spontaneous. Primary differential diagnosis is carried out, taking into account the following features and signs of disease:

From the absence of symptoms to abdominal pain, weakness, general malaise, weight loss

Manifestations of hemorrhoids

In most cases, the disease occurs in adults with an increase in the older age period (45-50 years old) and in the child bearing period and after delivery.
The process of pregnancy is accompanied by changes in the hormonal background of the body, leading to changes in the elasticity of the vascular walls, which, in combination with the increased pressure of the growing uterus on the intestinal veins, digestive disorders and bowel emptying, leads to varicose veins of the anus in the rectal walls.

The debut of the disease is most often noted in the postpartum period, when excessive pressure on the veins during the inflammatory period leads to inflammation of hemorrhoids and cracks, and the absence of a bowel movement in the first days aggravates the problem with subsequent constipation.

The disease is expressed in varicose veins of the lower intestine, which may be accompanied by bleeding during defecation, pain, anal itching, feeling of heaviness, discomfort, etc. The first stage of the disease may be asymptomatic, accompanied by slight discomfort during defecation. At the most severe stage, hemorrhoids may be accompanied by constant bleeding, pain, chronic anemia and require prompt treatment.

The amount of blood secreted depends on the degree of the disease and the characteristics of its manifestation: most often, the quantitative indicators of bleeding are insignificant, but in the later stages, the bleeding can be severe, leading to anemia, deterioration of the general condition. The treatment is carried out by a proctologist, in most cases, quite conservative methods.

Anal fissures

The appearance of a microcrack in the skin or mucous membrane of the anorectal region is in most cases caused by stool dysfunctions, chronic constipation, resulting in damage to the surfaces. Diagnosis is carried out on the basis of anamnesis, in which there are blood in the feces and acute pain during defecation, as well as an examination, which allows to detect a crack.

Therapy is based on the normalization of defecation, the use of disinfectants, painkillers that promote surface regeneration and relaxation of the sphincter muscles.

The basis of therapy is to improve the processes of digestion, change in diet, provoking constipation, regular hygiene of the anus. Without these areas of treatment, medications will have the character of temporary therapy, relapses of the disease with intestinal dysfunctions are almost inevitable.
Injuries of the anorectal region, not accompanied by constipation, are cured with the help of regular hygiene procedures, prescribing of regenerating and antiseptic preparations.

Inflammatory bowel disease

The course of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease have similar symptoms: abdominal pain, abnormal stool, blood in the stool (from minor to extensive bleeding), additional systemic diseases (arthritis, dermatitis, hepatic dysfunction).

These diseases without systematic therapy lead to the formation of intestinal tumors, ulceration of the mucous surface, rupture of the intestinal sections. Therapy is predominantly conservative, with the use of hormonal agents that suppress auto-aggression of immune cells, analgesics, means for stool normalization and digestion.

Bleeding for intestinal and systemic infectious diseases

Diseases of infectious etiology can also manifest as bleeding from the anus. Common causes include a pronounced course of enterovirus and rotavirus infections, which are accompanied by irritation of the intestine, erosive damage to its inner surface, which is accompanied by the release of blood with feces from men. Also, the blood goes without regard to the moment of bowel emptying.

Typhoid fever, dysentery, hemorrhagic fevers of various origins, accompanied by violations of the blood formula and massive internal bleeding, also lead to the appearance of blood from the anus and require urgent treatment in the hospital. High mortality in these diseases makes it necessary to contact the clinic at the first suspicion of the possibility of infection or the presence of the corresponding symptoms.

Wormlike invasions

If the parasites reproduce excessively in the intestine, they destroy the integrity of the mucous membrane, which leads to bleeding of the injured surface, which can result in chronic anemia and general depression of health indicators.
Parasitosis is accompanied by a decrease in immunity, allergic reactions, an abundance of respiratory viral and bacterial diseases, and dysfunctions of internal organs. At the stage of detection of bloody discharges in case of helminthic invasions, the patient needs urgent specific therapy, often in a hospital setting.

Which doctor should I consult for bleeding from the anus?

If the blood inclusions are insignificant and are not accompanied by a sharp deterioration of the condition, the symptoms listed above and requiring urgent hospitalization, then the physician and proctologist will become specialists of the first choice. If necessary, a gastroenterologist, an infectious disease specialist and other specialists can also carry out examination and diagnosis, depending on the primary diagnosis.

In some cases, bleeding can not be determined by visual examination of fecal masses, since the localization of the source of blood in the upper intestines, stomach or esophagus, the blood passing through all parts of the digestive tract, changes color to dark brown or black. With abundant discharge of blood, this leads to the appearance of the so-called tarry stool: a dark color, dense, sticky substance. Minor bleeding can only be detected by analyzing feces.
The following methods can be used for the survey:

  • retroscopic examination;
  • colonoscopic examination;
  • fluoroscopy with the introduction of a contrast agent into the intestine (irrigoscopy method);
  • gastroduodenoscopic examination of the inner surface of the stomach and the state of the duodenal mucosa;
  • Laparoscopic examination can have both diagnostic and therapeutic goals.

The presence of a slight inclusion of blood in the feces during defecation in most cases is not a sign of a dangerous disease. However, in the absence of timely and appropriate treatment, attempts at self-diagnosis and self-therapy, the disease will progress, moving to stages that threaten human health and life. This statement applies not only to intestinal cancer or infectious diseases: hemorrhoids and anal fissure cracks can also lead, in advanced cases, to the development of dangerous conditions that require immediate intervention and prompt treatment.

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