Senior Associate Editor Ian Gralnek, MD, MSHS, FASGE, recommends “Radiofrequency ablation for refractory gastric antral vascular ectasia (with video) by Tim McGorisk, MD, Kumar Krishnan, MD, Laurie Keefer, PhD, Srinadh Komanduri, MD, MS from the October issue.
Despite being an open-label study with a limited number of included subjects n=21, these are emerging data on a novel use and potential indication for existing technology (RFA) for patients who appear to have failed APC endotherapy for GAVE/watermelon stomach. At 6 months after completion of the course of RFA therapy, 18 of 21 patients (86%) were transfusion independent and mean hemoglobin increased from 7.8 to 10.2g/dL in responders (n = 18). There were two minor adverse events reported.
Figure 1. The HALO90 ULTRA ablation catheter.
I recommend this article because of its use of a new technology and as a novel potential indication for endotherapy in GAVE patients.
When standard APC endotherapy appears to have failed in GAVE patients, RFA may be a salvage therapy and could potentially be a method for avoiding surgical intervention in such patients.
Read this article on pages 584-588 of the print journal or find it online.
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