Melena is in medicine what is it? Which disease is melena?

In medical practice, there are many different terms and concepts. Know them all the person just can not. In the same article, I want to talk about what is melena in medicine.

Definition of concept

Begin to understand the problem with the definition of basic concepts. After all, this is the only way to determine what will be discussed in this article. So, melena - it is in medicine that is called a tarry black chair. This is an unformed stool with a very fetid odor.

Why black?

Having understood that melena is a special chair in medicine, it is necessary to say a few words about why it can receive such color. So, basically get such color of excrement in case of gastric bleeding or after ingestion of blood by a person (for example, with nasal bleeding). Black stools become due to sulphurous iron, which arises after the interaction of hydrogen sulfide and hemoglobin.

When else can melena appear? The reasons for this may include taking certain medications. For example, it can be activated charcoal, Bismuth remedy or iron preparations. In this case, the feces become black, but they do not have a lacquer luster.

Cause 1. Swallowing blood

Realizing that melena is in medicine a tarry stool, it is also worthwhile to tell in more detail about the reasons for its occurrence. So, the patient can just swallow his blood. This occurs in the following cases:

1. Hemoplegia.
2. Nose bleed.

Reason 2. Internal

So, various diseases of the internal organs can lead to this problem. This can be gastric bleeding, which often occurs as a result of stomach cancer, acute erosion, peptic ulcer, Mallory-Weiss syndrome, and, more rarely, vascular abnormalities. Esophageal bleeding can cause. In such cases, they speak of such diseases as esophagus cancer, reflux esophagitis, varicose veins of the esophagus. In addition, there are also bleeding from the duodenum and small intestine. It can be diseases such as peptic ulcers, fistula, hemophilia.

Cause 3. Coagulation disorders

If a person has a bleeding disorder, he may also have a problem such as melena. In this case, doctors most often talk about thrombocytopenia, hemophilia or various liver lesions.

Cause 4. Medication

In addition to the fact that black tar stools can arise due to the taking of certain medicines described above, the following drugs may become the cause:

1. Medication "Aspirin".
2. Hormonal means.
3. Anticoagulants.
4. Anti-inflammatory drugs (non-steroidal).

Other reasons

Having understood what is melena (it is called black stool in medicine), it is also worth mentioning that the following conditions may be the cause of this problem:

1. Use in large quantities of red wine.
2. Uremia, i.e., a disease, when a person is poisoned by products of protein metabolism.
3. Various connective tissue problems can become a cause.

Patient examination

The main method for determining a problem, such as melena, is to examine the patient's feces. If these are not available, but the patient claims that the stool is tarry, a rectal examination can be performed. In this case, the feces will be collected from the walls of the intestine and further examined. In addition, if a person has melena, the symptoms that may also occur are:

1. Pale skin.
2. Fainting.
3. Reduction of hemoglobin level in the blood.
4. Collapse, i.e. sudden cardiovascular failure.
5. Special color of the mucous membranes.
6. Reduced heart rate.

All these symptoms can be with such a problem as melena, because the main cause of its occurrence are all kinds of internal bleeding, which causes a similar symptomatology.

Melena in newborns

This problem can occur not only in adults, but even in newborn babies. In this case, experts distinguish between true and false melena.

1. True . It can occur if the baby has a violation of the processes of blood coagulability. In addition, the baby will bleed the umbilical wound, may be bloody vomiting, hemorrhages in the eyes and on the skin.
2. False . Occurs in the event that the baby during the passage through the birth canal swallowed the mother's blood. It can also occur as a result of breastfeeding if the nursing mother has bleeding cracks on her nipples. In addition, the baby can also swallow his blood in the case of, for example, epistaxis or mucosal damage.

It should also be said that you should not confuse melena with meconium, the first feces of a newborn, which also has a dark color and a similar consistency.

Melena in older children

A tarry stool can also arise in children at an older age. In this case, it is usually said that the child has a certain internal bleeding. Most often the cause is the bleeding diverticulum of Meckel (this is an innate formation, protrusion of the wall of the ileum). If we talk about children, the bleeding in them is often massive, which leads to a sharp rise in anemia. However, often black tarry stools for children arise after injuries to the nose during the game. In this case, the child simply swallows his blood, which leads to the occurrence of this problem.

Getting rid of the problem

If a person is melena, treatment should be carried out only under the supervision of specialists. Self-medication in this case can be very dangerous not only for health, but also for the life of the patient (after all, such a chair is mainly due to various internal bleeding). If a similar problem is found, you should immediately call an ambulance. After this, doctors, most likely, the patient will be sent to a surgical hospital. There will already be certain emergency endoscopic studies:

1. Colonoscopy.
2. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy.

As a result of the research, the source of the bleeding will be determined. Further all the forces will be thrown to stop the bleeding. However, before arriving an ambulance person should remember that at this time categorically food is forbidden. If you strongly want to drink, you can only drink cold water in small sips. It is also good to put a bubble with ice on your stomach.