The passage of bright red or bloody stools; visible blood in feces from lower gastrointestinal bleeding.
From hema- (blood) plus -chezia (defecation or feces, from Greek chezein meaning to defecate). The term describes blood appearing in stool.
Doctors immediately distinguish hematochezia from melena (dark, tarry stools) because they indicate bleeding from different parts of the gut—location determines everything about treatment!
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