Three Cases of Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Treated with Bevacizumab / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a hereditary, autosomal dominant, vascular dysplasia characterized by mucocutaneous telangiectasia, epistaxis, gastrointestinal bleeding, and iron deficiency anemia. Epistaxis in HHT is a recurrent and debilitating symptom, which is difficult to manage. Many methods have been tried with little success. Bevacizumab (Avastin®), a VEGF inhibitor, has been recently tried intranasally or systemically to control the recurrent epistaxis. We report three patients with HHT who were treated with intranasal bevacizumab application together with cauterization. In all three patients, recurrent epistaxis decreased considerably with improvement in quality of life. Here we describe the application methods, treatment results, and complications with literature review. We believe that this is the first report of treating epistaxis in HHT with intranasal application of bevacizumab in South Korea.