What is blood in the stool?
Blood in stool means bleeding in the stool, including what people often call “blood in the stool”, “anal bleeding”, “pus and blood stool” and “black stool”. “It usually appears as blood in the stool, or completely blood in the stool, and is bright red, dark red or tar-like in color.
It is usually seen in the lower gastrointestinal bleeding, including bleeding from the colon area, rectal area and anus, and also in the upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
1, the color of blood in the stool to determine the initial disease
Generally speaking, we can use the simple color of blood in the stool to initially determine the location of the lesion in the GI tract that is causing the blood in the stool.
Blood in the stool – “bright red”
Bright red blood in the stool is mostly considered benign lesions of the anal canal and rectum, usually due to hemorrhoids, anal fissures, proctitis, rectal prolapse, ulcerative colitis (rectal lesions), colorectal polyps, foreign bodies in the colorectum or anus, trauma, etc.
Bleeding internal hemorrhoids in stage I and II hemorrhoids often manifest as bright blood-colored bloody stools, painless blood in the stool, which is manifested as fresh blood attached to the surface of the stool, not mixed with feces, or dripping blood after the stool, or anal bleeding when squatting. In severe stage II or stage III and above, it not only manifests as blood in stool, but also is accompanied by the presence of different degrees of swelling prolapse after stool.
The blood in stool caused by anal fissure is usually on the side of the surface of the stool, and some patients have blood dripping from the stool, or blood on the hand paper, which is often accompanied by anal tearing pain during defecation. This pain is called “periodic pain”, which is usually induced by constipation, and is mutually causal and influential.
Patients with proctitis and ulcerative colitis rectal lesions usually show blood in stool mostly as unformed or shaped stools, with blood attached to the surface of the stool. Usually patients show irregularity in stool, frequent bowel movements, and a sense of urgency, and can do colonoscopy for a clear diagnosis.
Patients with rectal prolapse usually show repeated prolapse of the rectum or even sigmoid mucosa, accompanied by bleeding during stool, bright blood, and other symptoms such as anal dampness, itching, and painful swelling.
The blood in stool caused by colon polyps is mostly painless bleeding in stool, which is generally manifested as bleeding during stool, not mixed with feces, and stops after the end of defecation, the amount of bleeding varies, but if the location of colon polyps is high, it can also be manifested as mixed with feces. If the blood in the stool is large and bright red, it is necessary to consider gastrointestinal bleeding or large bleeding caused by trauma to the rectum and anal canal.
Blood in the stool – “mucus, pus and blood stool, dark red”
Patients with this type of blood in stool mostly show bleeding and stool mixed with dark red color, or with mucus, or mucus-purulent blood stool, pay attention to colorectal inflammation or tumor lesions. Common diseases include inflammatory bowel disease, bacterial dysentery, amoebic enteritis, colon and rectal cancer, etc. The blood in the stool caused by ulcerative colitis usually manifests as chronic, recurrent abdominal pain, diarrhea and mucus-purulent stools, requiring colonoscopy and retention of pathological specimens, etc.
Bacterial dysentery patients present with fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea, mucopurulent stools, and urgency, and the diagnosis is clear with stool culture and effective antimicrobial therapy.
Patients with amoebic enteritis have dark red jam-like stools. Amoebic trophozoites and cysts can be found through stool examination, and colonoscopy and biopsy are useful for clear diagnosis.
The blood in the stool caused by rectal cancer is bright red or dark red, the bleeding is usually not mixed with stool, it may be accompanied by mucus, and may be accompanied by changes in stool habits, thinning of stool, abnormal bowel movements, the feeling of incomplete defecation, etc. There is a special malodor.
The blood in stool of colon cancer patients is mostly bloody stool with pus or mucus, dark red in color, mixed with stool, accompanied by abdominal mass, abdominal pain, chronic progressive wasting and other symptoms.
If the stool has a large number of dark red blood clots without fecal inclusions, consider upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage caused.
Blood in the stool – “tarry stool”, “oily black and shiny”
Some patients have dark black, brown-black stools with a shiny surface, which clinically we call tar-like stools, which are generally considered to be caused by upper gastrointestinal bleeding, such as gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, etc. Because upper gastrointestinal bleeding stays in the intestine for a long time, if the bleeding is slow and small, the discharged stools are mostly dark black, tar-like stools.
2, blood in the stool, caused by diet?
Clinically, we often meet some patients who visit the clinic for blood in stool, not because of blood in stool caused by digestive tract diseases, but because of the consumption of certain drugs, beverages, or food caused by changes in the color of the stool, commonly consumed animal blood products, pig liver, blood-supplementing herbs, complex vitamins containing iron, and darker vegetables, beverages, etc. This “blood in stool This “blood in stool” can be stopped by changing the diet.
In summary, blood in the stool is not terrible, we understand that we can initially determine their own condition through the methods described above, of course, if you want to further clarify the diagnosis, you need to go to the local regular public hospital in a timely manner, after an objective assessment of the condition, to receive targeted treatment programs!