What Is GAVE?

Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) is an uncommon cause of chronic gastrointestinal bleeding or iron deficiency anemia. The condition is associated with dilated small blood vessels in the antrum, or the last part of the stomach. The dilated vessels result in intestinal bleeding. It is also called watermelon stomach because streaky long red areas that are present in the stomach may resemble the markings on watermelon.The condition was first discovered in 1952, and reported in the literature in 1953. Watermelon disease was first diagnosed by Wheeler et al. in 1979, and definitively described in four living patients by Jabbari et al. only in 1984. As of 2011, the etiology and pathogenesis are still not known. However, there are several competing hypotheses as to various etiologies (Wikipedia)

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Incidence

The average age of diagnosis for GAVE is 73 years of age for female, and 68 for males. Women are about twice as often diagnosed with gastric antral vascular ectasia than men. 71% of all cases of GAVE are diagnosed in females.  Patients in their thirties have been found to have GAVE.  It becomes more common in women in their eighties, rising to 4% of all such gastrointestinal conditions.

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