A case report of endoscopic therapy for radiation-induced hemorrhagic gastritis in patient with recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma

RATIONALE: Radiation-induced hemorrhagic gastritis is an infrequent cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and difficult to manage. The current standard treatment has not been well established. PATIENT CONCERNS: We described a 32-year-old male patient with hemorrhagic gastritis induced by external radiotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence. DIAGNOSES: The endoscopic examination showed a diffuse area of bleeding in the gastric antrum. INTERVENTIONS: After failure of conventional hemostasis treatment, we successfully stopped the hemorrhage with repeated endoscopic argon plasma coagulation (APC) combined with low-dose polyglycerol sclerotherapy. OUTCOMES: The patient was followed up for 6 months to date without recurrence. LESSONS: Based on this case, we think that endoscopic APC combined with low-dose polidocanol sclerotherapy can be tried as a treatment for potentially life-threatening radiation-induced hemorrhagic gastritis.