A rare cause for severe recurrent lower gastrointestinal bleeding in a 12 year old patient

The cause for severe, recurrent lower gastrointestinal (LGI) bleeding in children can usually be diagnosed readily by means of the commonly used investigative/diagnostic techniques such as colonoscopy, laparoscopy ± laparotomy. Occasionally less commonly used investigations may be necessary to look for more elusive causes of LGI bleeding such as capsule endoscopy, angiography, technetium-99m (99m Tc)-labeled red blood cell (RBC) scintigraphy, cross-sectional imaging such as CT/MRI (including angiography) and laparotomy combined with on-table small bowel enteroscopy. We report a case of severe, recurrent LGI bleeding that had occurred over several years, where the cause remained elusive despite numerous investigations and interventions. The etiology of this was eventually found to be a gastric duplication cyst infiltrating into adjacent transverse colon and causing bleeding from peptic ulceration in the colon. The process by which this diagnosis was made and the lessons learned are discussed.