Loading
Rectal bleeding denotes blood passing from the anus with or around defecation. Classical texts distinguish distant and nearby bleeding: dark blood passed after stool is considered distant bleeding originating from the Stomach or small intestine, while bright red blood passed before stool is nearby bleeding from the large intestine or anus. Pathomechanisms fall into three groups: heat damaging the blood collaterals, Spleen vacuity failing to contain blood, and stasis obstructing the intestinal vessels. The condition is most closely linked to the Spleen, Stomach, and Large Intestine.
Key differentiation: Intestinal damp-heat shows copious bright red blood that may spurt, with burning at the anus, bitter sticky mouth, and a yellow greasy tongue coating. Spleen-Stomach cold vacuity shows dark red or purplish-black blood mixed with stool, sallow complexion, cold limbs, fatigue, and a pale tongue with white coating. Qi failing to contain blood shows recurrent, pale, thin bleeding with shortness of breath, palpitations, poor appetite, loose stools, and a thin weak pulse. Stasis obstructing the intestinal collaterals presents with dark purplish blood and clots with fixed abdominal pain refusing pressure. Sudden heavy bleeding is a red flag requiring concurrent biomedical evaluation.
@misc{bencaodian-bian-xue,
author = {{Bencaodian Editorial}},
title = {Bian Xue 便血 (Rectal Bleeding)},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Bencao Dian: A Bilingual Knowledge Graph of Traditional Chinese Medicine},
url = {https://bencaodian.org/en/conditions/bian-xue},
urldate = {2026-04-17},
note = {CC BY-SA 4.0}
}© Bencaodian Editorial · Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0