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Summary
Your digestive or gastrointestinal (GI) tract includes the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine or colon, rectum, and anus. Bleeding can come from any of these areas. The amount of bleeding can be so small that only a lab test can find it.
Signs of bleeding in the digestive tract depend where it is and how much bleeding there is.
Signs of bleeding in the upper digestive tract include:
- Bright red blood in vomit
- Vomit that looks like coffee grounds
- Black or tarry stool
- Dark blood mixed with stool
Signs of bleeding in the lower digestive tract include:
- Black or tarry stool
- Dark blood mixed with stool
- Stool mixed or coated with bright red blood
GI bleeding is not a disease, but a symptom of a disease. There are many possible causes of GI bleeding, including hemorrhoids, peptic ulcers, tears or inflammation in the esophagus, diverticulosis and diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, colonic polyps, or cancer in the colon, stomach or esophagus.
The test used most often to look for the cause of GI bleeding is called endoscopy. It uses a flexible instrument inserted through the mouth or rectum to view the inside of the GI tract. A type of endoscopy called colonoscopy looks at the large intestine.
NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Diagnosis and Tests
- Abdominal Pain (Stomach Pain), Long-Term (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
- Abdominal Pain (Stomach Pain), Short-Term (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
- Capsule Endoscopy (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Colonoscopy: MedlinePlus Health Topic (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
- Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
- Lower GI Series (Barium Enema) (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
- Small Bowel Bleeding (American College of Gastroenterology) Also in Spanish
- Upper GI Endoscopy (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
Related Issues
- Stool Color: When to Worry (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
- Vomiting Blood (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
Specifics
- Esophageal Varices (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Proctitis (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
- Proctitis (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
- Rectal Bleeding (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
- Understanding Minor Rectal Bleeding (American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy) Also in Spanish
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage (National Institutes of Health)
Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- Article: Nonvitamin K Anticoagulants: Risk of Bleeding When Interacting With Other Medications:...
- Article: The relationship between serum uric acid and gastrointestinal bleeding in peritoneal...
- Article: Computed tomography-based multi-organ radiomics nomogram model for predicting the risk of...
- Gastrointestinal Bleeding -- see more articles
Reference Desk
- Your Digestive System and How It Works (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
Find an Expert
- American College of Gastroenterology
- ASGE: Find a Doctor (American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy)
- Find a Gastroenterologist (American College of Gastroenterology)
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Children
- Collecting a Stool Sample for Testing (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
- Stool Tests (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
- Upper GI Bleeding in Children (North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition) - PDF
Patient Handouts
- Black or tarry stools (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Bleeding esophageal varices (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Gastrointestinal bleeding (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Mallory-Weiss tear (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Vomiting blood (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish