Gastric antral webs in adults: A case series characterizing their clinical presentation and management in the modern endoscopic era

AIM To investigate the current management of gastric antral webs (GAWs) among adults and identify optimal endoscopic and/or surgical management for these patients. METHODS We reviewed our endoscopy database seeking to identify patients in whom a GAW was visualized among 24640 esophagogastroduodenoscopies (EGD) over a seven-year period (2006-2013) at a single tertiary care center. The diagnosis of GAW was suspected during EGD if aperture size of the antrum did not vary with peristalsis or if a "double bulb" sign was present on upper gastrointestinal series. Confirmation of the diagnosis was made by demonstrating a normal pylorus distal to the GAW. RESULTS We identified 34 patients who met our inclusion criteria (incidence 0.14%). Of these, five patients presented with gastric outlet obstruction (GOO), four of whom underwent repeated sequential balloon dilations and/or needle-knife incisions with steroid injection for alleviation of GOO. The other 29 patients were incidentally found to have a non-obstructing GAW. Age at diagnosis ranged from 30-87 years. Non-obstructing GAWs are mostly incidental findings. The most frequently observed symptom prompting endoscopic work-up was refractory gastroesophageal reflux (n = 24, 70.6%) followed by abdominal pain (n = 11, 33.4%), nausea and vomiting (n = 9, 26.5%), dysphagia (n = 6, 17.6%), unexplained weight loss, (n = 4, 11.8%), early satiety (n = 4, 11.8%), and melena of unclear etiology (n = 3, 8.82%). Four of five GOO patients were treated with balloon dilation (n = 4), four-quadrant needle-knife incision (n = 3), and triamcinolone injection (n = 2). Three of these patients required repeat intervention. One patient had a significant complication of perforation after needle-knife incision. CONCLUSION Endoscopic intervention for GAW using balloon dilation or needle-knife incision is generally safe and effective in relieving symptoms, however repeat treatment may be needed and a risk of perforation exists with thermal therapies.