The importance of upper gastrointestinal lesions detected with capsule endoscopy in patients with obscure digestive bleeding

Abstract

In patients with an obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB), small bowel capsule endoscopy (SBCE) detected not only small bowel lesions but also significant upper gastrointestinal (UGI) lesions that were missed or underestimated as the initial endoscopy in 21% of cases. Is it therefore necessary to carefully read the gastric images when performing an SBCE.

Keywords

• occult bleeding
• gastric lesions
• small bowel lesions