Treatment of chronic bleeding from gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) with estrogen-progesterone in a cirrhotic patient

Abstract

A 71-year-old man with type C liver cirrhosis was diagnosed as gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) base on pathognostic endoscopic findings of diffuse erythematous spots in the antrum. He showed severe anemia that needed regular blood transfusion. He was administered estrogen-progesterone (E-P) because endoscopic heater probe therapy was unsuccessful. Gastric bleeding stopped after the induction of E-P therapy. Severe anemia, recurring after the discontinuation because of moving, again ameliorated after the re-induction of E-P therapy, in spite of the spread of GAVE to lower gastric body. This case suggests that E-P therapy is effective in the treatment of GAVE.