Gastric antral vascular ectasia
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 causes.
Signs and symptoms
Most patients who are eventually diagnosed with watermelon stomach come to a physician complaining of anemia and blood loss. Sometimes, a patient may come to the physician because he or she notices blood in the stools — either melena (black and tarry stools) and/or hematochezia (red bloody stools).
