Long-term efficacy of endoscopic coagulation for different types of gastric vascular ectasia

To examine the long-term therapeutic efficacies of endoscopic cauterization for gastric vascular ectasia, according to the type of lesion.

Thirty-eight patients with hemorrhagic gastric vascular ectasia (VE) were treated by endoscopic cauterization: 13 by heater probe coagulationand 25 by argon plasma coagulation. Depending on the number of lesions, 14 and 24 patients were classified into localized VE (≤ 10; LVE) and extensive VE (> 10; EVE), respectively. The patients were followed-up by repeated endoscopic examinations after the therapy, and the incidences of VE recurrence and re-bleeding from the lesions were evaluated.

Although the VE lesions disappeared initially in all the patients after the therapy, the recurrence of VE developed in 25 patients (66%) over a mid-term observation period of 32 mo, and re-bleeding occurred in 15 patients (39%). The recurrence of VE was found in all patients with EVE, with re-bleeding occurring in 14 patients (58%). In contrast, only 1 patient (7%) with LVE showed recurrence of the lesions and complicating hemorrhage. Both the cumulative recurrence-free rates and cumulative re-bleeding-free rates were significantly lower in the EVE group than in the LVE group (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). Moreover, the cumulative re-bleeding-free rate in the EVE group was 47.6% at 1 year and 25.4% at 2 years in patients with chronic renal failure, which were significantly lower than the rates in the patients without chronic renal failure (83.3% and 74.1%, respectively) (P < 0.05).

The recurrence of VE and re-bleeding from the lesions was more frequent in the patients with EVE, especially in those with complicating renal failure.