Background and study aims
Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) is a capillary-type vascular malformation of the gastric antrum, usually diagnosed endoscopically in patients presenting with iron deficiency anemia or gastrointestinal bleeding. While there is established evidence for treatment with thermal modalities, such as argon plasma coagulation (APC) therapy, more recent studies have shown endoscopic band ligation (EBL) to be safe and effective in achieving remission. Our study aimed to evaluate long-term outcomes of patients with GAVE who underwent EBL at our institution.
Patients and methods
We retrospectively reviewed data from 33 patients with GAVE who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy and EBL between September 2012 and July 2017 within our institution, looking primarily at clinical response, recurrence, and blood transfusion requirements.
Results
Clinical response was achieved in 27 patients (81.8%). Among responders, recurrence-free survival decreased with time from 88 % at 1 year to 44 % at 2 years. Thirteen patients (48.1 %) had recurrence of GAVE at a mean time of 18.2 months (range 4.7 – 51.8). The only predictor of recurrence was greater number of pre-procedure blood transfusions.
Conclusion
This is the first study to evaluate long-term response and recurrence in patients with GAVE after treatment with EBL and predictors of clinical response after initial endoscopic therapy have been identified. While we were able to demonstrate excellent remission achievement rates in our GAVE patients who had undergone EBL, close clinical follow-up is clearly required as almost 50 % will have recurrence at around 18 months.
Background and study aims
Cholangioadenoma is not recognized commonly and is often only diagnosed on surgical specimens. Direct per oral single-operator cholangioscopy (SOC) allows characterization of common bile duct (CBD) lesions through direct visualization and directed forceps biopsies with potential for impacting surgical management decisions. This is a retrospective review of all SOC cases diagnosed with cholangioadenoma. Patient demographics and outcomes were recorded. Three patients (all male), average age 68 years (range 62 – 76 years), were identified to have a cholangioadenoma. The clinical indication for SOC was deranged liver enzymes with a dilated CBD and a CBD abnormality identified on biliary imaging. The site of cholangioadenoma was proximal, mid and distal CBD, respectively. All patients had a successful SOC with targeted biopsy-proven diagnosis. One patient had a synchronous cholangiocarcinoma and underwent palliative stenting whereas the other two patients underwent appropriate curative resection based on cholangioadenoma location. We conclude that SOC is safe and effective for diagnosis of cholangioadenoma and has potential impact on decisions for surgical management.
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