Usefulness of small bowel reexamination in obscure gastrointestinal bleeding patients with negative capsule endoscopy findings: Comparison of repeat capsule endoscopy and double‐balloon enteroscopy

BACKGROUND: Although capsule endoscopy (CE) is a noninvasive diagnostic tool for patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB), bleeding lesions are often not detected. No strategies have been established to determine whether CE or double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) should be performed after negative CE. METHODS: Among 652 patients who underwent CE for OGIB, a total of 359 patients had negative findings. Of these, 41 and 48 patients underwent repeat CE and DBE for small bowel reexamination, respectively. We compared the rate of positive findings between the two groups. The findings were considered positive if mucosal break, vascular lesion, tumor, or active bleeding was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Reexamination via CE appears to have more diagnostic value than DBE for OGIB patients with negative CE findings.