What is blood in the stool?

Hematochezia means blood in the stool. Many people have experienced blood in the stool in their lives. Many people do not take blood in the stool seriously, thinking that this condition is just caused by dry stool and it is nothing serious. In fact, there are many reasons that lead to bloody stools, and some diseases can also cause bloody stools. In this article, let’s take a closer look at what bloody stools are.

Blood in the stool is a relatively common anorectal disease, and may also be a symptom of digestive tract or systemic diseases. So what factors can cause blood in the stool? Here we introduce some common causes of blood in the stool, hoping to help you:

(1) Internal hemorrhoids are the most common cause of bloody stools, with intermittent bleeding being the main cause. That is, after a period of continuous bleeding, there may be a break, and not every bowel movement will cause bleeding. The blood is bright red and appears as drips or "arrow-like" spurts. It does not mix with the stool and is not accompanied by pain. If the disease lasts for a long time, it may be accompanied by symptoms of prolapse of the mass after defecation.

(2) Anal fissures are also a common cause of bloody stools. The blood is bright red and the amount of bleeding is usually small, with the toilet paper often stained with blood. It is accompanied by severe anal pain during defecation. The pain is slightly relieved after defecation, but then starts again, often lasting for several hours. However, in clinical practice, we have also seen a small number of patients with anal fissures who only experienced slight pain or no pain, and also presented with bleeding.

(3) Intestinal polyps are more common in young people, followed by children, and the amount of bleeding varies. Intestinal polyps are generally painless. When intestinal polyps are large, located low or the amount of bleeding is large, the blood in the stool will not mix with the stool but will be attached to the surface of the stool. If the intestinal polyps are located higher, blood is often mixed with the stool.

(4) Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are both nonspecific intestinal inflammations of unknown cause, which are more common in young people. The main symptom is bloody stools with blood, pus and mucus in the stool. Generally, the amount of bleeding is not much, and there are abdominal pain, diarrhea, or alternating diarrhea and constipation, or accompanied by systemic symptoms such as weight loss, fatigue, low fever, and anemia.

(5) Colorectal cancer refers to cancer of the colon and rectum. It causes painless blood in the stool. The amount of bleeding is usually small, the blood is dark and not fresh, and it is often mixed with pus and mucus. It is attached to the surface of the stool or mixed with the stool.

(6) Black stools or tarry stools are mainly seen in upper gastrointestinal diseases, such as inflammation, ulcers, injuries, vascular lesions, and tumors of the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum. However, be careful not to mistake black stools caused by ingesting large amounts of animal blood, animal liver, and phenolphthalein laxatives for bloody stools.

(7) Other intestinal diseases: Blood in the stool accompanied by fever, abdominal pain, and acute onset are often seen in bacterial dysentery, hemorrhagic fever, hemorrhagic necrotizing enteritis, amoebiasis, etc. Large amounts of bleeding, acute onset, and severe abdominal pain are often seen in intussusception and mesenteric artery embolism. Those with systemic bleeding tendency should consider blood system diseases such as thrombocytopenic purpura, aplastic anemia, leukemia, and hemophilia.

After reading the introduction in this article, everyone should have some understanding of the causes of bloody stools. In general, we still need to pay attention to bloody stools and find out the causes of bloody stools so that we can treat them symptomatically and recover health as soon as possible. If you still have any questions, you can check other content on our website.