title: Scleroderma and watermelon stomach.
abstract: Two patients with scleroderma (systemic sclerosis, SSc) and chronic blood loss secondary to gastric vascular ectasia--"watermelon stomach"--are presented. These cases exemplify the condition of gastric vascular ectasia and highlight the increasingly recognized association with autoimmune antibodies and connective tissue disease such as SSc. In both cases the onset of gastric blood loss coincided with the clinical manifestations of sclerodactyly by months, suggesting some temporal relationship. Although a number of different treatment modalities are available, and discussed in this report, both cases required gastrectomy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Manolios
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eliades
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Duncombe
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Spencer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005773:Gastroscopy; D006801:Humans; D011706:Pyloric Antrum / Q000473:pathology; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D013270:Stomach / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology