| Theme |
Update of Endoscopy for Small Intestine |
| Title |
Diagnostic Impact of Double Balloon Endoscopy for Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases |
| Author |
Noriaki Manabe |
Division of Endoscopy and Ultrasonography, Kawasaki Medical School |
| Author |
Ken Haruma |
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kawasaki Medical School |
| Author |
Jiro Hata |
Division of Endoscopy and Ultrasonography, Kawasaki Medical School |
| Author |
Shinji Tanaka |
Department of Endoscopy, Hiroshima University Hospital |
| [ Summary ] |
The diagnostic impact of double balloon endoscopy for patients with inflammatory bowel diseases are described. The most frequent indication is gastrointestinal bleeding, with etiology remaining obscure after conventional upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopy. Double balloon endoscopy detected various lesions in about 65 % of these patients. More than half of these lesions were erosions or ulcers. The etiology of erosive or ulcerative lesions varies. It is a matter of great importance to accurately diagnose these lesions, including the etiology. Seventy percent of those erosive or ulcerative lesions detected using double balloon endoscopy were lesions related to chronic inflammation. A major characteristic of those lesions was small size. Most lesions in the small bowel could be diagnosed definitively from characteristic endoscopic findings. However, some ulcerative lesions could not be diagnosed on the basis of a single double balloon endoscopic examination because configurations of the lesions varied widely, according to disease stage or treatment. |