Iron deficiency anemia due to stromal tumor of the ileum

Iron-deficiency anemia occurs in 3.5 to 5.3% of adult men and postmenopausal women. Occult gastrointestinal bleeding is the cause in the vast majority of cases. After endoscopic examinations have ruled out lesions in colon and upper gastrointestinal tract, 5 to 20% of those patients remain without diagnosis. Angiodysplasias and tumors are the most common causes of occult bleeding arising from the small bowel. Their diagnosis requires complex studies with quite low yield. However, it is necessary to perform them when anemia becomes severe or persistent. We report the case of a male patient with severe and persistent iron-deficiency anemia who had a stromal gastrointestinal tumor located in the ileum.