Massive upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage from an arteriovenous malformation of the stomach

Arteriovenous malformations of the stomach are rare; blood loss may be manifested either by chronic anemia or by massive recurrent hemorrhage. We report a patient with massive upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage from a gastric arteriovenous malformation. Emergency operation to control hemorrhage precluded the performance of angiography; diagnosis was made from the appearance of the lesion and dilatation of the veins draining the involved area. Complete operative excision of the lesion was curative.