Evaluation of the efficacy of therapeutic endoscopy in gastrointestinal bleeding secondary to angiodysplasias.

INTRODUCTION

Gastrointestinal angiodysplasias are defined as vascular dilations that communicate capillaries and veins in the walls of the digestive tract. The clinical presentation of these lesions varies from chronic occult bleeding to severe gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

AIM

The primary aim of our study was to analyze lesion location, the efficacy of therapeutic endoscopy with argon plasma coagulation, and the factors associated with rebleeding in patients with gastrointestinal angiodysplasias.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A retrospective study of 32,042 endoscopies was carried out within the time frame of January 2012 and December 2013 at our hospital center. Gastrointestinal angiodysplasia was the diagnosis in 331 of the endoscopies. The procedures included upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, and enteroscopy.

RESULTS

The most frequent location of the angiodysplasias was the cecum (49%), followed by the ascending colon (17%) and the sigmoid colon (16%). They were most frequently found in the duodenum (60%) and gastric body (49%) at upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Therapeutic endoscopy was performed in 163 cases (49.8%) and the most predominant methods were fulguration with argon (90%) and combination treatment (argon plasma coagulation and injection sclerotherapy) (6.7%). The macroscopic rebleeding rate after therapeutic endoscopy was 7.4%. Patients that had rebleeding presented with a lower hemoglobin concentration, higher mean age, and the presence of multiple angiodysplasias at endoscopy (P<.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Therapeutic endoscopy was performed in 49.8% of the patients with angiodysplasias. The macroscopic rebleeding rate after treatment was 7.4%. There were statistically significant differences in the patients with rebleeding in relation to mean age, hemoglobin values, and the presence of multiple angiodysplasias.