Background Advancements in device-assisted enteroscopy have enabled the earlier detection of small bowel tumors (SBTs). However, epidemiological studies on SBTs in Asian populations remain limited. This study aims to investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of SBTs in a multicenter setting. Methods We reviewed electronic medical records of enteroscopies performed between January 2010 and July 2023 at nine medical centers in Taiwan. Patients who underwent deep enteroscopy and were ultimately diagnosed with SBTs were included. We analyzed the demographic characteristics, clinical data, enteroscopic findings, and pathological reports. Results A total of 333 patients with SBTs were enrolled, of whom 253 (76.0%) had malignant tumors. Patients with malignancies were significantly older than those with benign lesions, with mean ages of 62.4 years and 55.3 years, respectively ( p = 0.005). Gastrointestinal bleeding was the most common clinical presentation. The enteroscopic procedures performed included double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) in 39.9% of cases, single-balloon enteroscopy (SBE) in 34.8%, and push enteroscopy in 24.3%. Prior to enteroscopy, capsule endoscopy (CE) had the highest diagnostic yield (92.9%), followed by magnetic resonance imaging (80.0%) and computed tomography (72.9%); CE retention occurred in three patients (21.4%). The frequency of malignant subtypes were gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs, 35.5%), adenocarcinomas (27.3%), and lymphomas (16.6%). The overall diagnostic yield of enteroscopy for malignancies was 88.9%. Conclusion In Taiwan, GISTs were the most common malignant SBTs, followed by adenocarcinomas and lymphomas, a distribution that differs from that reported in Western studies. Device-assisted enteroscopy is effective in both diagnosis and localizing lesions, thereby facilitating surgical management.
Kuo et al. (Fri,) studied this question.