AIM To evaluate the therapeutic role of double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) in small bowel strictures and to propose a standard approach to small bowel strictures. METHODS Systematic review of studies involving DBE in patients with small bowel strictures. Only studies limited to small bowel strictures were included and those with ileo-colonic strictures were excluded. RESULTS In total 13 studi...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Of patients who are seen with GI hemorrhage, approximately 5% will have a small-bowel source. Management of these patients entails considerable expense. We performed a decision analysis to explore the optimal management strategy for obscure GI hemorrhage. METHODS We used a cost-effectiveness analysis to compare no therapy (reference arm) to 5 competing modalities for a 50-...

Device assisted enteroscopy (DAE) techniques have been recently developed for the diagnosis and treatment of small bowel diseases. These techniques can also be used to perform endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in patients with surgically altered anatomies. The main difficulties with DAE-ERCP are related to type of surgery, to the different dimensions and lack of frontal view...

necrosectomy and a Roux−en−Y anasto− mosis. Before surgery the patient had un− dergone an endoscopic retrograde chol− angiopancreatography (ERCP) with bili− ary stent placement, but this stent could not be removed intra−operatively. ERCP was carried out using the Fujinon dou− ble−balloon enteroscope (EN−450T5I, Fu− jinon, Saitama, Japan). For the ERCP we did not place a balloon on the tip of th...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Capsule endoscopy (CE) and double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) allow complete small-bowel examination but consume additional health care resources. A cost-minimization analysis determined the optimal initial management strategy for obscure occult gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB). METHODS We compared 5 strategies: initial small-bowel follow-through, enteroclysis, push enteroscop...

Blue rubber bleb naevus syndrome is a rare vascular disorder associated with multiple gastrointestinal haemangiomas that have the potential for life-threatening haemorrhage. These may be difficult to diagnose, and have classically been described using computed tomographic studies and/or mesenteric angiography. Resected surgical specimens of these lesions, especially in the small bowel, have oft...

Multiple myeloma (MM) or Kahler’s disease is a malignant neoplasia of the lymphoplasmocyte lineage, characterized by uncontrolled and progressive proliferation of an abnormal plasmocyte clone within the bone marrow (BM) with subsequent production of monoclonal immunoglobulin. On the other hand, focal plasmocyte tumors (plasmocytomas) with formation of tumorous masses without medullary involveme...

A 56−year−old man presented with a 5− month history of upper abdominal pain and vomiting. Physical examination re− vealed a distended abdomen and high− pitched bowel sounds. Laboratory data were within reference ranges. He under− went abdominal ultrasound and comput− ed tomography, both of which showed significantly thickened jejunal loops. Eso− phagogastroduodenoscopy and ileocolo− noscopy wer...