Dieulafoy's lesion of the small bowel causing massive gastrointestinal bleeding: two case reports and literature review

Dieulafoy's lesions are an often unrecognized cause of obscure, massive GI hemorrhage. Their diagnosis may elude conventional investigations, including upper and lower endoscopy, arteriography, and even laparotomy. In this paper, we report two cases of small-bowel Dieulafoy lesions. The first, a jejunal lesion, occurred in a young patient and was discovered at laparotomy. The second was an ileal Dieulafoy's malformation in an older patient. An intraoperative endoscopy with surgical guidance may be needed for definitive localization of this lesion.