POS0427 CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PATIENTS WITH SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS AND GASTRIC ANTRAL VASCULAR ECTASIA (GAVE)
Authors: C. Codina, A. Guillén-del-Castillo, E. Callejas-Moraga, J. Perurena-Prieto, M. Roca-Herrera, I. Sanz-Pérez, A. Gil-Vila, A. Selva-O’Callaghan, V. Fonollosa-Pla, C. P. Simeón-Aznar
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2021)

Background: Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) is one of the gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations related to systemic sclerosis (SSc). It can be presented as iron deficiency anemia or even upper gastrointestinal bleeding. GAVE is diagnosed by endoscopy observing an image of confluent vascular ectasias that is oriented longitudinally on the folds of the antrum in the appearance of “watermelon”. The definitive treatment for this manifestation consists in endoscopy guided fulguration when the clinical situation allows it. Objectives: The objective was to study a cohort of SSc patients at their first endoscopy. The clinical characteristics, laboratory tests and treatments received from SSc patients with GAVE were compared to those without this GI manifestation. Methods: From the cohort of patients with SSc in Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron, a total of 269 patients who had undergone at least one endoscopy during follow-up were selected. Twenty seven were diagnosed with GAVE. We compared the clinical, analytical and treatment characteristics of these patients with the remaining 242 who did not present GAVE. The statistical study was carried out using the SPSS 20.0 package (Chicago, IL), a p &lt;0.05 was considered as statistical significance. Results: The prevalence of GAVE in SSc patients was 10.0%. Patients with GAVE had a higher median age SSc onset taking into account the first non-Raynaud’s phenomenon (RP) symptom attributable to the disease (56.6 vs 48.0 years, p = 0.001). The median age at first endoscopy was 56.5 years in GAVE group compared with 61.7 in the group without GAVE. Compared with SSc patients without GAVE, patients with GAVE had a higher prevalence of Barrett’s esophagus (14.8% vs. 3.7%, p = 0.011), intestinal involvement (37% vs. 18.6%, p = 0.024) and a trend towards a lower prevalence of interstitial lung disease (25.9% vs 45.0%, p = 0.057). No difference was identified in the prevalence of scleroderma renal crisis. Patients with GAVE presented a higher frequency of early or active Cutolo capillaroscopy pattern with a predominance of enlarged capillaries or megacapillaries (84.6% vs 62.4%, p = 0.025), greater frequency of anti-centromere antibodies (63.0% vs. 42.1%, p = 0.039) and a trend towards a lower proportion of anti-topoisomerase I (3.7% vs. 18.6%, p = 0.052). No difference was found in prevalence of anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies between groups. Patients with GAVE were treated less frequently with non-glucocorticoid immunosuppressants prior to diagnostic endoscopy (0% vs 20.2%, p = 0.010). The 33.3% of patients with GAVE were treated with endoscopic fulguration, and 66.7% of them received supplementary treatment with oral iron. Conclusion: SSc patients with GAVE had higher age at SSc onset, more frequency of Barrett’s esophagus and intestinal involvement, prevalence of anti-centromere antibodies, early or active Cutolo scleroderma pattern and lower prior non-glucocorticoids treatment. References: [1]Ghrénassia E, Avouac J, Khanna D, T.Derk C, Distler O, Suliman Y, et al. Prevalence, Correlates and Outcomes of Gastric Antral Vascular Ectasia in Systemic Sclerosis: A EUSTAR Case-control Study. The Journal of Rheumatology. 2014; 41:1. Disclosure of Interests: None declared