Impact of the small bowel study on patient management

Medical records of 528 consecutive patients who had a peroral small bowel examination or enteroclysis were reviewed. Clinical indications, efficacy of the small bowel examinations, and patient outcome were correlated to determine the impact of the small bowel examination on patient management. The most frequent indications were abdominal pain (19%), diarrhea (15%), obstruction (12%), bleeding (11%), postsurgical evaluation (10%), and assessment of Crohn's disease (8%). Two thirds of the studies (67%) were normal, and 33% of the examinations were abnormal, with similar results in all age groups. Small bowel obstruction (13%), miscellaneous results primarily including diffuse small bowel diseases (7%), adhesions (6%), and Crohn's disease (5%) were the most common abnormalities detected. The effects of small bowel studies on patient management were exclusion of serious pathology (67%), diagnosis that changed therapy (32%), and incidental findings (1%). Small bowel enteroclysis had a higher yield of positive examinations than the peroral small bowel examination, most likely due to patient selection.