Abstract
A 66-year-old man was referred to our hospital because of recurrent attack of epigastralgia, epigastrial distension and nausea. Under the endoscopy, the gastric antrum was not identified at the first, then there were many convergent folds of gastric mucosa in the midstomach causing luminal obstruction. With gentle pressure the endoscope passed through this narrowing segment into the antrum. Upper GI series revealed upside down stomach and a diagnosis of gastric mesenteroaxial volvulus was made. Endoscopic correction of gastric volvulus was successfully performed using alpha-loop maneuver under fluoroscopy. The endoscope was inserted into the second portion of the duodenum to form an alpha-loop in the stomach. Then, the endoscope was torqued in a clockwise manner to allow uncoiling of the alpha-loop and correction of the gastric volvulus. This paper describes the classification, diagnosis and treatments of gastric volvulus and highlights the effectiveness of its endoscopic correction using an alpha-loop maneuver.
