Collagen is an important protein that can be found throughout your body. In fact, it is found in all the connective tissues in your body ranging from your skin and bones, all the way down to your organs and blood vessels. Collagen functions several different ways in your body.
Upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (sometimes upper GI, UGI bleed, Upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage, gastrorrhagia) is gastrointestinal bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract, commonly defined as bleeding arising from the esophagus, stomach, or duodenum. Blood may be observed in vomit (hematemesis) or in altered form in the stool (melena).
The annual inci-dence of hospitalizations for UGIB has been estimatedto be 100â150 per 100,000 population resulting inover 300,000 hospitalizations (1,2). UGIB is approxi-mately five times more common than lower gastroin-testinal bleeding (LGIB) and is more common in menand older adults (1,3). Over the last 50 years there hasbeen a striking increase in the proportion of olderpatients presenting with UGIB.