Magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band image for diagnosing diffuse type of gastric antral vascular ectasia in cirrhotic patients.

OBJECTIVE: Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) and portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG) can cause gastrointestinal bleeding in cirrhotic patients. Distinguishing diffuse-type GAVE and severe PHG is important but difficult by conventional endoscopy and endoscopic biopsy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the value of magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band image for diagnosing diffuse-type GAVE in cirrhotic patients. METHODS: From January 2010 to December 2013, cirrhotic patients with diffuse red spots of stomach in suspicion of diffuse-type GAVE on conventional endoscopy in a tertiary medical center were included. The detection of diffuse red spots on magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band image (NBI) was classified into ring-pattern which suggested GAVE and mosaic-pattern which suggested non-GAVE. The golden diagnosis of GAVE was based on histological criteria of GAVE score ≥3 by any one of two endoscopic sessions. RESULTS: Total 27 cirrhotic patients were included. Twenty-two patients reached the diagnosis of GAVE and five patients were diagnosed of non-GAVE by histology. The diagnostic rate of conventional endoscopy was 81.5% (22/27). The positive rate of initial endoscopic biopsy was 77.2%. On magnifying endoscopy with NBI, the sensitivity, specificity, positive, negative predicted rate and accuracy of ring-pattern for the diagnosis of GAVE were 100, 90, 96.4, 100 and 97.3%. Kappa coefficient of inter-observer agreement for differentiating the ring and mosaic-pattern was 0.92. CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy and accuracy of magnifying endoscopy with NBI for diagnosing diffuse-type GAVE in cirrhotic patients have been demonstrated. It can avoid repeated endoscopy to confirm diagnosis and obviate the invasive biopsy in cirrhotic patients.

Imatinib-induced Gastrointestinal Vascular Ectasia in a Patient with Advanced GIST: Case Report and Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Imatinib is generally well tolerated in the treatment of advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Gastrointestinal vascular ectasia (GIVE) and gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE), while rare, are significant under-reported complications of imatinib therapy. CASE REPORT: We present one patient with GIVE complicating imatinib therapy with a literature review of this rare side-effect. RESULTS: A 68-year-old woman was diagnosed with advanced GIST, wild-type CKIT. After 3 months of treatment with imatinib, she had partial response. However, she was diagnosed with GAVE and, later, also with GIVE. During her 3-year imatinib treatment, she suffered from severe anemia and required blood transfusions. Conservative treatments were not helpful and the ectatic lesions resolved only with cessation of imatinib. CONCLUSION: This confirms a causal relationship between GIVE and imatinib. GIVE and GAVE should be considered possible causes of anemia and upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients receiving imatinib therapy.

Chronic anemia due to watermelon stomach.

Antral gastric vascular ectasia is a rare cause of chronic anemia. When encountered, the diagnosis is usually delayed. Endoscopic findings are well established, although radiologic findings are not. Patients respond well to surgery. Our case was of a 62-year-old female with chronic anemia who required multiple blood transfusions and iron replacement therapy, without significant response. Computed tomography revealed a focal thickening of the gastric antrum. Endoscopy showed vascular ectasia between the antrum and corpus. The patient underwent gastrectomy. We reviewed the literature on gastric angiodysplasia and have presented our unique tomography findings in this first report on a novel association between ectopic pancreas and gastric angiodysplasia.

Olympus Lucera high-resolution vascular ectasia mapping in combination with the type V crypt pattern for the invasive depth estimation and nodal disease estimation in Paris type II colorectal cancers: a comparative prospective analysis to 20 MHz ultrasound.

INTRODUCTION: Flat and depressed neoplastic lesions of the colorectum [Paris type (PT) 0-II] localized to the superficial submucosal (sm) layer can be managed using endoscopic mucosal resection. Successful endoluminal management can be enhanced using endoscopic or ultrasound tools that help predict the degree of sm invasion. Previous studies addressing invasive depth estimation using high-magnification chromoscopic colonoscopy showed a low specificity for deep sm layer 3 invasion with miniprobe ultrasound demonstrating better nodal and T stage in vivo prediction. High-resolution vascular mapping of lesions can show microvascular superficial changes that may predict sm invasive disease. AIMS: Vascular mapping in combination with high-magnification chromoscopic colonoscopy (HMCC) may provide an accurate tool for the invasive depth estimation of PT type II neoplastic lesions as compared with high frequency 20/12.5 MHz miniprobe ultrasound. METHODS: Sixty-eight patients with a known diagnosis of PT II neoplasia were imaged using 3 "back to back" imaging modalities. Phase 1-vascular ectasia mapping; phase 2-HMCC with crypt analysis according to Nagata criteria; phase 3-12.5/20 MHz miniprobe ultrasound. Lesions predicted as T0/1/N0 were resected using endoscopic mucosal resection with the remaining referred for surgery. Each imaging modality was then compared with the resected histopathologic specimen used as the "gold standard." RESULTS: N=68 lesions (19 sm1/13 sm2/36 sm3). Overall accuracy of Nagata criteria, Nagata criteria combined with vascular mapping, and ultrasound staging was 65%, 78%, and 94%, respectively (P<0.001) when observing the between phase differences. Fifty-two lesions were resected surgically. The prevalence of node positive disease was 16% (8/52) with the remaining 44/52 (84%) being confirmed pN0 at histopathology. The kappa coefficient of agreement between invasive depth estimation (using histopathology as the gold standard), Nagata stage, Nagata stage plus vascular ectasia mapping and ultrasound stage was 0.47, 0.65, and 0.9, respectively. A significant improvement in between phase differences was observed (P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to address the in vivo clinical utility of vascular mapping in combination with HMCC for the T and N staging of PT II neoplasia. Combination imaging may provide an adequate clinical tool for both T and N stage assessment in vivo and help stratify those patients at high risk for T2/N1 disease that may benefit from further high-frequency miniprobe ultrasound (HFUS) assessment and possible primary surgical excision. This is important in the clinical context, given the high overall costs of a second HFUS examination, limitation of HFUS resources, and safe selection of patients undergoing primary endoscopic resection versus surgical resection.