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A case of gastic antral vascular ectasia—increase of neuroendocrine cells in the antrum

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Abstract

We report an 82-year-old woman with severe iron deficiency anemia who was found to have gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE). As the required repeated blood transfusion for the anemia and did not respond to various medical treatments, she was referred for antrectomy. The pathogenesis of GAVE is still obscure and may involve many factors. In our patient, immunohistochemical studies of the resected stomach disclosed a marked increase of neuroendocrine cells. The majority of these hyperplastic neuroendocrine cells, furthermore, showed immunoreactivity for 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin). These findings suggest that neuroendocrine mediators, serotonin in particular, may have been responsible for the local vasodilatation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Third Department of Internal Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 465 Kajiicho Hirokoji-agaru Kawaramachi-dori Kamigyo-ku, 602, Kyoto, Japan

    Yoshio Yamaoka, Hideyuki Konishi, Tadashi Kodama & Kei Kashima

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Otsu Municipal Hospital, 2 Motomiya, 520, Otsu, Shiga, Japan

    Yoshio Yamaoka, Takashi Yamaguchi, Masayuki Imamura, Takeshi Ogasawara & Minoru Kizu

Authors
  1. Yoshio Yamaoka
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  2. Hideyuki Konishi
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  3. Tadashi Kodama
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  4. Kei Kashima
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  5. Takashi Yamaguchi
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  6. Masayuki Imamura
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  7. Takeshi Ogasawara
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  8. Minoru Kizu
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Yamaoka, Y., Konishi, H., Kodama, T. et al. A case of gastic antral vascular ectasia—increase of neuroendocrine cells in the antrum. J Gastroenterol 30, 387–392 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02347516

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02347516

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