CT imaging of acute gastrointestinal haemorrhage

•.  Acute gastro-intestinal (GI) haemorrhage is a medical and surgical emergency. •.  Imaging may be required in patients with upper GI bleeding where endoscopy is unsuccessful or prior to surgery in patients with lower GI bleeding to avoid blind resection. •.  Multidetector CT (MDCT) is rapidly replacing other imaging techniques in particular conventional angiography as the primary imaging modality for the assessment of patients with GI haemorrhage. •.  The main advantages of MDCT are: it is non-invasive and easily repeated if necessary; widespread availability of MDCT 24/7 in virtual all UK hospitals; it may establish the cause as well the site of bleeding; it provides a guide to interventional radiologists to target embolisation. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) angiography is rapidly replacing conventional angiography as the primary imaging modality for the assessment of acute gastrointestinal haemorrhage. MDCT angiography allows high-quality assessment of the arterial pathology without resort...