WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Jiddi S.*, Jellal S., Lmfadli Y., Bouchrit S., Ait Errami A., Samlani Z., Oubaha S. and Krati K.

ABSTRACT

The acute gastrointestinal bleeding is associated with a high mortality risk.Thecause of the bleeding is usually identified with an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and a colonoscopy. Rarely, the etiology of hemorrhage is obscure and not found by endoscopy. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the contribution of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT) in the diagnosis and management of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, based on a clinical case of a64-year-old patient, presenting with melaenas 10 days prior to her admission, requiring multiple blood transfusions. An upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, a colonoscopy, a capsule endoscopy and an abdominal angio-scan, did not found any active origin of the bleeding. The Tc99m red blood cells scintigraphy showed an active bleeding in the left hypochondrium. The SPECT/CT confirmed the diagnosis and guided the treatment by electrocoagulation. The Tc99m red blood cells scintigraphy is a useful diagnostic tool in objectifying a gastrointestinal bleeding without being able to specify its exact anatomical localization. The Hybrid SPECT/CT imaging can overcome this challenge. This diagnostictool has taken a prominent position as it is non-invasive, easy to perform and able to detect intermittent bleeding.

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