Portal hypertension may be present, resulting in other conditions including splenomegaly, hematemesis and melena.
Melena is often a medical emergency as it arises from a significant amount of bleeding.
Symptoms that require urgent medical attention are seizures, problems urinating, abnormal bruising or bleeding, melena, hematemesis, jaundice, fever and rigors, chest pain, hemiplegia, abnormal vision, dyspnea and edema.
Gastrointestinal lymphoma causes vomiting, diarrhea, and melena (digested blood in the stool).
Very often, however, aside from the melena itself, there are no other symptoms.
A less serious, self-limiting case of melena can occur in newborns two to three days after delivery, due to swallowed maternal blood.
Some individuals may have bleeding in the esophagus, manifesting as vomiting of blood or as melena stools.
These include dysphagia, weight loss, anemia, signs of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (such as hematemesis or melena) and jaundice.
