Small bowel polypectomy by double balloon enteroscopy: Correlation with prior capsule endoscopy

To investigate the feasibility of small bowel polypectomy using double balloon enteroscopy and to evaluate the correlation with capsule endoscopy (CE).

This is a retrospective review of a single tertiary hospital. Twenty-five patients treated by enteroscopy for small bowel polyps diagnosed by CE or other imaging techniques were included. The correlation between CE and enteroscopy (correlation coefficient of Kendall for the number of polyps, intra-class coefficient for the size and coefficient of correlation kappa for the location) was evaluated.

There were 31 polypectomies and 12 endoscopic mucosal resections with limited morbidity and no mortality. Histological analysis revealed 27 hamartomas, 6 adenomas and 3 lipomas. Strong agreement between CE and optical enteroscopy was observed for both location (Kappa value: 0.90) and polyp size (Kappa value: 0.76), but only moderate agreement was found for the number of polyps (Kendall value: 0.47).

Double balloon enteroscopy is safe for performing polypectomy. Previous CE is useful in selecting the endoscopic approach and to predicting the difficulty of the procedure.