VASCULAR ECTASIA OF THE GASTRIC ANTRUM - ANGIOGRAPHIC FINDINGS

Gastric antral vascular ectasia is an uncommon but potentially treatab le cause of chronic gastrointestinal blood loss. In classical form, th e condition has a striking endoscopic appearance of prominent longitud inal erythematous folds traversing the gastric antrum (Fig. 1), descri bed as a ''water-melon stomach.'' In many cases, however, the findings are not typical; diffuse gastric reddening indistinguishable from sim ple gastritis is present. Previous reports have suggested that angiogr aphy is usually not helpful in the diagnosis of this abnormality [1-5] , However, in a 4-year period, we encountered four patients with gastr ic antral vascular ectasia, all of whom had characteristic findings on celiac arteriograms.