Gastric antral vascular ectasia

Gastric antral vascular ectasia
Other namesWatermelon stomach, watermelon disease
Endoscopic image of gastric antral vascular ectasia seen as a radial pattern around the pylorus before (top) and after (bottom) treatment with argon plasma coagulation
SpecialtyGastroenterology Edit this on Wikidata
SymptomsBleeding in the stomach and intestines, edema, dilated blood vessels

Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) is an uncommon cause of chronic gastrointestinal bleeding or iron deficiency anemia.[1][2] The condition is associated with dilated small blood vessels in the gastric antrum, which is a distal part of the stomach.[1] The dilated vessels result in intestinal bleeding.[3] It is also called watermelon stomach because streaky long red areas that are present in the stomach may resemble the markings on watermelon.[1][2][3][4]

The condition was first discovered in 1952,[2] and reported in the literature in 1953.[5] Watermelon disease was first diagnosed by Wheeler et al. in 1979, and definitively described in four living patients by Jabbari et al. only in 1984.[4] As of 2011, the cause and pathogenesis are still not known.[4][6] However, there are several competing hypotheses as to various causes.[4]

  1. ^ a b c Suit, PF; Petras, RE; Bauer, TW; Petrini Jr, JL (1987). "Gastric antral vascular ectasia. A histologic and morphometric study of "the watermelon stomach"". The American Journal of Surgical Pathology. 11 (10): 750–7. doi:10.1097/00000478-198710000-00002. PMID 3499091. S2CID 36333766.
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Antrectomy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Nguyen, Hien; Le, Connie; Nguyen, Hanh (2009). "Gastric antral vascular ectasia (watermelon stomach)-an enigmatic and often-overlooked cause of gastrointestinal bleeding in the elderly". The Permanente Journal. 13 (4): 46–9. doi:10.7812/TPP/09-055. PMC 2911825. PMID 20740102.
  4. ^ a b c d Yildiz, Baris; Sokmensuer, Cenk; Kaynaroglu, Volkan (2010). "Chronic anemia due to watermelon stomach". Annals of Saudi Medicine. 30 (2): 156–8. doi:10.4103/0256-4947.60524. PMC 2855069. PMID 20220268.
  5. ^ Rider, JA; Klotz, AP; Kirsner, JB (1953). "Gastritis with veno-capillary ectasia as a source of massive gastric hemorrhage". Gastroenterology. 24 (1): 118–23. doi:10.1016/S0016-5085(53)80070-3. PMID 13052170.
  6. ^ Tuveri, Massimiliano; Borsezio, Valentina; Gabbas, Antonio; Mura, Guendalina (2007). "Gastric antral vascular ectasia—an unusual cause of gastric outlet obstruction: report of a case". Surgery Today. 37 (6): 503–5. doi:10.1007/s00595-006-3430-3. PMID 17522771. S2CID 25727751.