Background and aim: Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) is a rare but serious cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Argon plasma coagulation (APC) is used to treat GAVE, with considerable failure rate. The present study aimed to compare between APC and endoscopic band ligation (EBL) for GAVE treatment in HCV-related liver cirrhosis patients regarding efficacy and safety.
Patients and methods: The study included thirty patients with chronic HCV- related liver cirrhosis diagnosed with GAVE divided into two groups: group(1) 15 patients subjected to APC, group(2)15 patient had EBL .
Patients were followed up for 3 months with upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscope, re- evaluation of their clinical status, complications and hemoglobin level.
Results: EBL group patients had statistically significant less number of treatment sessions (2.80 ± 0.770) vs. (4.87 ± 1.13) for APC group; (p=0.001).). EBL had significantly lower rate of recurrence during treatment and follow up period, less blood transfusion and hospitalization than APC group; (p < 0.05) In the first month, hemoglobin level was not significantly different in both groups, but within the second and third months follow up, hemoglobin level of EBL group showed persistent increase; (p < 0.001)
Conclusion: Endoscopic band ligation is superior to argon plasma coagulation for GAVE treatment regarding less bleeding recurrence, less number of sessions needed, better hemoglobin level improvement, less blood transfusion, hospitalization and less major complications