title: Three cases of gastric antral vascular ectasia in chronic renal failure.
abstract: Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) is currently recognized as an important cause of gastrointestinal bleeding. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with a high incidence of GAVE. We report 3 patients with CKD who presented with severe anemia and were diagnosed with GAVE; they were resistant to endoscopic argon plasma coagulation. However, remission of anemia and improvement in GAVE lesions were observed after the initiation of hemodialysis. The pathogenesis of GAVE remains largely unknown, but mechanical stress of the antrum could play an important role. This stress may be reduced by hemodialysis through improvement of uremia-associated gastrointestinal symptoms. Therefore, the initiation of hemodialysis might be effective for intractable GAVE in CKD patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Nephrology and Rheumatology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iguchi
authors.forename: Junichiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: James Kazama
authors.forename: Masamichi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Komatsu
authors.forename: Yoshikatsu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iino
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Ichiei
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Narita