[Gastrointestinal hemorrhage of obscure origin].

Gastrointestinal bleeding of obscure origin consists of recurrent bouts of acute or chronic bleeding for which no definite source is discovered in routine endoscopic and barium contrast studies of the upper and lower gastrointestinal tracts. Usually its cause is angiodysplasia of the intestine, but many cases are due to tumors, mostly of the small bowel, which may be malignant. In patients under the age of 50, the proportion with malignancy is relatively high (up to 14%) as compared to older patients.