Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) is an uncommon but important cause of chronic gastrointestinal blood loss and iron deficiency anaemia. The syndrome was first described in 1953 by Ryder et al in the gastrectomy specimen of an elderly woman. It was not until 1984 when Jabbari et al described the unique endoscopic appearance as “prominent erythematous stripes radiating in a spoke-like fashion from the pylorus to the antrum”. This led Jabbari et al to coin the term “watermelon stomach” for this condition. Biopsies usually show fibromuscular hyperplasia of lamina propria, intravenous fibrin thrombi and an increase in the mean cross-sectional area of the lumen in mucosal vessels. However, histology is not necessary for diagnosis of GAVE.1 We describe a patient with GAVE who was successfully treated with argon plasma coagulation (APC).
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