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Updated: May 22, 2026

Murine Endoscopy for In Vivo Multimodal Imaging of Carcinogenesis and Assessment of Intestinal Wound Healing and Inflammation
Published on: August 26, 2014
Antegrade is more effective than retrograde enteroscopy for evaluation and management of suspected small-bowel
Madhusudhan R Sanaka1, Udayakumar Navaneethan, Bhanu Kosuru
1Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Institute, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA. sanakam@ccf.org
Background & Aims:
Antegrade and retrograde enteroscopy are useful for evaluating the proximal and distal small bowel, respectively. We compared the diagnostic yield, therapeutic yield, and complications of antegrade and retrograde enteroscopy.
Methods:
We performed a retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database of patients who underwent small-bowel enteroscopy at our institution from January 2008 to August 2009. All enteroscopies were performed using single-balloon enteroscopy (SBE), double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE), or spiral enteroscopy (SE). A total of 250 enteroscopies were performed; 182 were antegrade (91 SBE, 52 DBE, and 39 SE) and 68 were retrograde (23 SBE, 37 DBE, and 8 SE). The mean age of the patients was 61.5 ± 15.8 years.
Results:
The most common indication for small-bowel endoscopy was obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (n = 83). The diagnostic yield was significantly higher for antegrade than retrograde enteroscopy (63.7% vs 39.7%; P < .001). Antegrade procedures were of shorter duration than retrograde enteroscopy (44.3 ± 22.0 vs 58.9 ± 29.7 min; P < .001), and the mean depth of maximal insertion was significantly greater with antegrade endoscopy (231.8 ± 122.1 vs 103.4 ± 102.8 cm; P < .001). The therapeutic yield also was significantly higher for anterograde enteroscopy than retrograde enteroscopy (55.5% vs 44.1%; P < .001). There were no significant differences in complications.
Conclusions:
Antegrade enteroscopy appears to provide a higher diagnostic and therapeutic yield than retrograde enteroscopy in patients with suspected small-bowel disease.
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