Bleeding watermelon stomach treated by Nd-YAG laser photocoagulation.

We report on five patients with liver disease requiring blood transfusion because of recurrent acute or chronic bleeding from diffuse antral vascular ectasia (watermelon stomach). All were initially misinterpreted as hemorrhagic gastritis. Medical treatment with antiulcer drugs failed to control blood loss. Nd-YAG laser therapy (medium number of sessions: n = 4, range: 1-8) improved the endoscopic appearance of the gastric lesions and effectively controlled blood loss in all patients over a medium follow up period of eight months (range: 2-12 months). Treatment related complications did not occur.