Majority of people suffering from Angiodysplasia may experience subtle symptoms of Angiodysplasia. This medical condition usually victimizes the elderly people. However, it is also seen amongst the young generation today. Most of the people suffering from Angiodysplasia usually have anemia and symptoms of anemia along with severe blood loss. Some of the Angiodysplasia patients may also experience symptoms of shortness of breath, fatigue, weakness and pale skin.
In some cases, Angiodysplasia patients may also experience symptoms of bleeding from the rectum which can prove to be severe to mild and bright in color. Patients with Angiodysplasia never experience any kind of pain in the abdominal region. In some cases, this medical condition occurs along with other diseases of vessel wall. A medical condition referred as Heyde’s Syndrome which is basically caused due to internal bleeding may also occur along with Angiodysplasia.
Possible Complications Associated with Angiodysplasia
Patients with Angiodysplasia may have long term effect from this disorder and if it is kept untreated then it can prove to be fatal later. Some of the possible complications of Angiodysplasia include:
- Death due to excessive blood loss
- Anemia
- Serious loss of blood from gastrointestinal tract
- Side effect from the drugs and treatment procedures.
Diagnosis of Angiodysplasia
There are procedures available to diagnose the condition and severity of Angiodysplasia. Diagnosis of Angiodysplasia can easily be done with the help of following procedures.
- If your doctor notices active bleeding occurring from the colon then they may ask you to undergo angiography of blood vessels of mesentery which can be beneficial to detect the cause of bleeding.
- Blood tests are also done by pathologists to identify the count and percentage of hemoglobin and relative anemia
- CT Angiography is the ultimate examination that can easily help the doctor to diagnose the condition because this tool displays the precise site and the severity of tuft of blood vessel.
- Patients with Angiodysplasia of colon may be asked to undergo a colonoscopy which is a sensitive test to detect the Angiodysplasia of colon. But, patients with active bleeding may be asked to undergo angiography along with colonoscopy test for more precise results.
- Stool test is also done for the occult blood.
Treatment for Angiodysplasia
The treatment for Angiodysplasia usually depends on the severity of the condition and bleeding from return and nature of the symptoms. However, Angiodysplasia patients who are hemodynamically unstable are usually treated by administering intravenous pulse cyclophosphamide treatment procedures combined with packed RBCs. In some cases, Angiodysplasia patients are also treated with endoscopic procedures where the doctor uses laser techniques like:
- Monopolar eletrocautery
- Neodymium: yttrium-aluminum-garnet lasers
- Sclerotherapy
- Olympus EVIS LUCERA
- Argon plasma coagulation lasers.
If in case the lesions are not clearly visible in the colonscopy test, then the doctor may ask the patient to undergo Angiodysplasia angiography test to more precise results. Based on the report of the test, the doctor will administer treatment procedures.
There are also other medications like desmopressin, thalidomide, aminocaproic acid and estrogens which are prescribed to the patients to treat the condition. In some rare cases, patients may also be asked to undergo a hormone replacement therapy using estrogen. However, there are side effects associated with this type of treatment procedure which can be complicated to counter at times.
In more severe cases of Angiodysplasia, the patients are asked to undergo surgical procedure. The surgical procedure may include partial gastrectomy or complete gastrectomy and the right hemicolectomy. However, the surgical options are the last option which is only recommended when no other treatment procedures work efficiently to treat Angiodysplasia. Patients must avoid using the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication during such condition because such drugs may make the condition aggressive. So, considering all these factors it is necessary for the patients with Angiodysplasia to undergo proper timely treatment before the condition turns out to be fatal.