Dieulafoy lesions and gastrointestinal bleeding

Abstract

A Dieulafoy lesion is a dilated, submucosal artery that can erode through the adjacent gastrointestinal mucosa, resulting in spontaneous rupture and massive gastrointestinal bleeding. If misdiagnosed or left untreated, these lesions have up to an 80% mortality rate. Here we present the case of a 70-year-old woman with abdominal pain who was found to have a submucosal gastric vascular structure on computed tomography angiography of the pulmonary arteries. She underwent outpatient esophagogastroduodenoscopy to confirm the presence of a gastric Dieulafoy lesion and was successfully treated with mesenteric angiography and transarterial embolization.

Keywords:

• Dieulafoy
• gastrointestinal bleeding
• interventional radiology
• transarterial embolization