Videocapsule endoscopy renders obscure gastrointestinal bleeding no longer obscure

Hemorrhage arising from inaccessible areas of the gastrointestinal tract has long been an enigma in gastroenterology. The advent of the Given M2A videocapsule endoscope now permits direct visualization of small bowel mucosa. The purpose of this study is to compare the diagnostic yield of the Given M2A videocapsule endoscope to conventional push enteroscopy.

Twenty consecutively referred patients (9 men aged 54.8 +/- 21.7 years, 11 women aged 65.6 +/- 16.6 years) who had previously had 1.6 +/- 0.8 EGDs, 1.6 +/- 0.8 colonoscopies, at least 1 normal small bowel radiographic study, and who had received 6.2 +/- 3.9 units of blood were studied. Patients underwent videocapsule endoscopy and subsequently push enteroscopy within 1 week. The endoscopist was blinded to the results of the videocapsule study.

Videocapsule endoscopy determined the source of bleeding in 12/20 (60%) of patients versus 15% for push enteroscopy (McNemara chi2, P = 0.02). Videocapsule endoscopy found a source of bleeding in 9/13 patients in whom enteroscopy was negative. Three patients had surgical resections for vascular ectasias (2) and a hamartoma (1) based on the videocapsule endoscopy results.

The Given M2A videocapsule endoscope has superior diagnostic utility for the evaluation of gastrointestinal bleeding when compared with standard push enteroscopy. The Given M2A videocapsule endoscope can be used to direct appropriate therapy in addition to avoiding the use of unnecessary conventional endoscopic and radiologic procedures.