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Background and Aim: Spiral enteroscopy is a novel technique for small bowel exploration. The aim of this study is to compare double-balloon and spiral enteroscopy in patients with suspected small bowel lesions., Methods: Patients with suspected small bowel lesion diagnosed by capsule endoscopy were prospectively included between September 2009 and December 2010 in five tertiary-care academic medical centers., Results: After capsule endoscopy, 191 double-balloon enteroscopy and 50 spiral enteroscopies were performed. Indications were obscure gastrointestinal bleeding in 194 (80%) of cases. Lesions detected by capsule endoscopy were mainly angioectasia. Double-balloon and spiral enteroscopy resulted in finding one or more lesions in 70% and 75% of cases, respectively. The mean diagnosis procedure time and the average small bowel explored length during double-balloon and spiral enteroscopy were, respectively, 60 min (45-80) and 55 min (45-80) (P=0.74), and 200 cm (150-300) and 220 cm (200-300) (P=0.13). Treatment during double-balloon and spiral enteroscopy was possible in 66% and 70% of cases, respectively. There was no significant major procedure-related complication., Conclusion: Spiral enteroscopy appears as safe as double-balloon enteroscopy for small bowel exploration with a similar diagnostic and therapeutic yield. Comparison between the two procedures in terms of duration and length of small bowel explored is slightly in favor of spiral enteroscopy but not significantly., (© 2013 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.)

Aim: To investigate the feasibility of small bowel polypectomy using double balloon enteroscopy and to evaluate the correlation with capsule endoscopy (CE)., Methods: 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., Results: 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)., Conclusion: 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.

Objectives: Early rebleeding rate after endoscopic therapy with double balloon enteroscopy (DBE) of hemorrhagic small bowel vascular lesions (SBVL) varies between 10 and 50%. In recent reports, long-term follow-up of patients have been described but rebleeding risk factors are still not well established. The aim of the current study was to identify long-term treatment success rate and rebleeding risk factors after DBE therapy in a large cohort., Methods: We conducted a single-center, retrospective cohort study in a large French tertiary-referral center between January 2004 and December 2007., Results: Among 261 patients presenting with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB), SBVL was present in 133 patients and was treated successfully in 129 (97%) using mainly argon plasma coagulation. Ninety-eight patients were followed up for a mean period of 22.6±13.9 months (range 1-52). Rebleeding rate was 46% (45/98 patients) at 36 months. On multivariate analysis, the total number of observed lesions (hazard ratio (HR): 1.15, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06-1.25, P=0.001) and the presence of a valvular and/or arrhythmic cardiac disease (HR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.29-4.87, P=0.007) were significantly associated with the risk of rebleeding. Complication rate of therapeutic DBE was 2.3% with no mortality., Conclusions: Endoscopic therapy using DBE for SBVL in patients with recurrent OGIB allows a long-term remission in more than half of the patients. Independent rebleeding risk factors after a first endoscopic therapy are an increased number of SBVL and an associated valvular/arrhythmic heart disease.

Background: Capsule endoscopy (CE) is an effective method for investigating the small bowel, especially in cases of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB), although the long-term outcome of patients with a negative CE is generally not known., Patients and Methods: For 49 patients with OGIB and a negative CE, their referring physicians filled out a follow-up questionnaire to assess bleeding recurrence and any repeat investigations after negative video capsule endoscopy (VCE)., Results: A minimum follow-up duration of one year (median: 15.9 months) was available for 35 patients with an overall rebleeding rate of 23% (n=8). Of these eight patients, four women presented with recurrence prior to new investigations. In the four remaining patients, repeat endoscopy work-ups after negative CE were performed and revealed previously missed lesions with bleeding potential, mainly in the stomach. Overall, 13 patients, with or without rebleeding, had repeat endoscopy work-ups after a negative CE, leading to a definitive diagnosis in nine patients, with lesions located in the stomach and colon in eight of them., Conclusion: Patients with OGIB and a negative CE had a low rate of rebleeding. This study highlights the importance of the initial endoscopy work-up, and suggests that CE be proposed after a minimum of two gastroscopies and one complete colonoscopy., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Ileal idiopathic forms of ganglioneuromatosis in adults are extremely rare and represent a challenging pathologic condition for the clinician. We present two cases of ileal ganglioneuromatosis consisting of stricturing lesions that mimicked clinical and radiologic features commonly observed in Crohn's disease patients with ileal involvement.

Phlegmonous gastritis is an extremely rare and life-threatening condition. We report the case of a 32-week pregnant women presenting a peritonitis owing to phlegmonous gastritis caused by a group A streptococcus and successfully managed by conservative surgical treatment and antibiotics. Multiple endoscopies with biopsies illustrate progressive and complete gastric recovery.