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Home :: Family Health :: Melaena Melaena - Melaena symptom, treatment, causes
Melaena can be defined as the black tarry stools resulting from bleeding into the upper gut. The blood is blackened by the actionof acid and digestive enzymes produced in the stomach. Melaena is most often due to bleeding from ulcerated or inflammatory conditions in the oesophagus (gullet), stomach or duodenum (first part of the small intestine). This symptom should always be investigated so that the cause can be discovered and treated.
Melaena can be defined as the black tarry stools resulting from bleeding into the upper gut. A discharge from the bowels of black matter, consisting of altered blood. Melaena in children may, as in adults, be the consequence of slow lower gastrointestinal bleeding, or upper gastrointestinal bleeding. For instance, in very brisk upper GI bleeding, the blood does not have time to be digested by gastric and intestinal juices and may emerge as haematochezia , which is passage of fresh(er) bleeding. The salient feature is that melaena is changed blood. Melaena is most often due to bleeding from ulcerated or inflammatory conditions in the oesophagus (gullet), stomach or duodenum (first part of the small intestine). This symptom should always be investigated so that the cause can be discovered and treated.
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