Clinical Characteristics, Etiologies, and Outcomes of Patients With Haematochezia at Al-Rajhi University Hospital.

Haematochezia is the passage of bright red or maroon blood or blood clots from the rectum, usually originates from a source in lower parts of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract

* In addition, haematochezia can be seen in patients with brisk upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB). The underlying etiology can vary from life threatening variceal bleeding to clinically insignificant haemorrhoidal bleeding . The most common etiology is diverticular bleeding, which accounts for 20% to 55% of cases, followed by intestinal ischemia, inflammatory bowel diseases, anorectal disorders, and neoplasia, which each accounting for around 10% of cases * LGIB can be mild and intermittent or moderate or severe . Patients with mild bleeding can be electively evaluated as outpatients. While, those with severe bleeding should be hospitalized for management Acute or severe LGIB has an incidence of 20-30 cases/100,000 person years and accounts for 20% of GI bleeds (7-8). The overall mortality rate of LGIB is 2-4% .

Clinical data available at the time of initial patient evaluation can be used to identify patients at high risk for severe bleeding and other adverse outcomes. Several scoring systems have been developed to assess risk in acute LGIB .

To the best of our knowledge, no Egyptian study has addressed the outcome of patients with haematochezia presented at the endoscopy units or has evaluated the clinical utility of risk scores in assessment of patients admitted to hospitals with acute haematochezia. Therefore, we need to study the short-term outcomes of patients with haematochezia (and their predictors) after being managed.