Abstract
Watermelon stomach (gastric antral vascular ectasia, GAVE) has become an increasingly important source of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. This study report the safety and effectiveness of endoscopic Argon plasma coagulation (APC) in treating hemorrhage of GAVE in a single Medical center in Southern Taiwan. The study retrospectively reviewed medical records of patients with GAVE in upper GI tract who received endoscopic therapy with APC. A total of 19 patients (11 men and 8 women) were enrolled. The mean age was 61.8 years. Sixty-five percent of GAVE patients had co-existing liver cirrhosis. There was no complication related to APC in current series but the rebleeding rate was as high as 78.9%. The mean required treatment session to achieve complete hemostasis was 2.4. Previous radiation therapy had higher rebleeding rates. In brief, APC usually needs several sessions to achieve bleeding control for GAVE due to high rebleeding rate.
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