gastrointestinal disorders
Vascular Gastrointestinal Lesions
Treatment of Vascular GI Lesions
Endoscopic coagulation Endoscopic coagulation (with heater probe, laser, argon plasma, or bipolar electrocoagulation) is effective for many vascular lesions. Vascular ectasias are treated with endoscopic coagulation if they are thought to be the cause of bleeding. Endoscopic clips may be applied to some lesions. They often recur, although there is some evidence that oral estrogen-progesteronecombinations may limit recurrence. Mild recurrent bleeding can be treated simply with chronic iron therapy. More significant bleeding that is unresponsive to endoscopic measures may require angiographic embolization or surgical resection. However, rebleeding occurs in about 15 to 25% of surgically treated patients. 