Vascular Ectasia of the Proximal Stomach

Excerpt

Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE), also known as watermelon stomach, is a well-described cause of gastrointestinal hemorrhage first described by Rider et al. in 1953 [1]. Patients with GAVE may present with gross bleeding or asymptomatic iron deficiency anemia [2]. GAVE is readily diagnosed during upper endoscopy by the identification of characteristic antral mucosal abnormalities, most commonly linear columns of ectatic vessels converging in the pylorus. The lesions’ resemblance to the stripes of a watermelon led Jabbari et al. to coin the phrase “watermelon stomach,” which is commonly used by clinicians and endoscopists [3]. Histopathological confirmation is possible with biopsies of the gastric mucosa obtained during endoscopy, demonstrating dilated mucosal capillaries with fibrin thrombi and fibromuscular hyperplasia [4, 5]. …