Gastrointestinal Angiectasia in patients with chronic kidney disease: A matched case-control study

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a well-known risk factor of gastrointestinal angiectasia (GIA). The aim was to compare this population with CDK patients without GIA.

Patients followed in the Nephrology Department of Tenon Hospital for which an endoscopy was performed between 2012 and 2022 were identified. Those with at least one GIA lesion were included ("GIA+" group). A matched control group for age, sex and GFR stage of patients with CKD and no GIA lesion ("GIA-" group) was constituted. A subgroup analysis compared patients with (SB+) and without (SB-) small-bowel involvement.

A total of 55 patients were included in the GIA+ group. 36.3 % (n = 20) were active smokers and 29.1 % (n = 16) had peripheral arterial disease versus 16.4 % (n = 9) (OR 2.89, p = 0.03), and 9.1 % (n = 5) (OR 4.05, p = 0.015) in the GIA- group. Thirteen patients (23.6 %) had a SB lesion. Duodenal involvement was present in 69.2 % of cases in the SB+ group versus 28.6 % in the SB- group (p = 0.02). Median number of endoscopies, hemostatic technics and hospitalizations was 7, 3 and 6, versus 2 (p = 0.0001), 1 (p = 0.001) and 1 (p = 0.0002) in the SB- group.

CKD patients with GIA had a greater cardiovascular risk with a higher incidence of vascular nephropathy. Small-bowel GIA were associated with a higher morbidity.