A CASE OF ARTERIOVENOUS MALFORMATION IN THE SUBMUCOSAL LAYER OF THE STOMACH

Arteriovenous malformation (AVM) of the stomach is extremely rare. We report a patient with asymptomatic gastric AVM detected during mass sc reening of the upper gastrointestinal tract. The patient, a 69-year-ol d female, had no history of gastrointestinal bleeding. Endoscopy revea led a gastric submucosal tumor (3 cm in diameter) at the posterior wal l below the esophago-cardiac junction. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS ) showed a hypoechoic structure in the third layer of the stomach, sug gesting gastric AVM in the submucosal layer. Complete resection of the AVM tissue was performed by strip biopsy with surgical resection. His tological examination showed AVM in the submucosal layer. EUS examinat ion was useful for the diagnosis of gastric AVM in this case.