Scientific Publications

Categorized: Abstracts & Presentations, Gastroenterology

Gastric Antral Vascular Ectasia: The Invaluable Role of the Gastric Biopsy in its Detection and Confirmation

Gastric vasculopathies consist predominantly of two entities:

  • Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE)
  • Portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG)

The classically described GAVE patient is an elderly woman with iron-deficiency anemia and a “watermelon” appearance of the gastric mucosa on endoscopy.

There are two published histologic scoring systems:

  • Gilliam et al. (1989) – Devised a system requiring vascular abnormality (thrombi/ectasia) and spindle cell proliferation of the lamina propria to distinguish GAVE from normal, acute gastritis, and atrophic gastritis.
  • Payenet al. (1995) – Devised a similar system using vascular abnormality, spindle cell proliferation, and fibrohyalinosis to distinguish GAVE from PHG in cirrhotic patients.

View the presentation here.