| Coffee ground vomiting | |
|---|---|
| Specialty | Gastroenterology |
| Symptoms | Vomiting dark blood |
| Causes | Gastritis Gastrointestinal bleeding Stomach cancer Yellow fever |
Coffee ground vomitus refers to a particular appearance of vomit. Within organic heme molecules of red blood cells is the element iron, which oxidizes following exposure to gastric acid. This reaction causes the vomitus to look like ground coffee.