Emergency single‐balloon enteroscopy in overt obscure gastrointestinal bleeding: Efficacy and safety

UNLABELLED: We aimed to evaluate the impact of emergency single-balloon enteroscopy (SBE) on the diagnosis and treatment for active overt obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB). METHODS: SBE procedures for OGIB were retrospectively reviewed and sub-divided according to the bleeding types: active-overt and inactive-overt bleeding. The patient's history, laboratory results, endoscopic findings and therapeutic interventions were registered. Emergency SBE was defined as an endoscopy that was performed for active-overt OGIB, within 24 hours of clinical presentation. RESULTS: Between January 2010 and February 2013, 53 SBEs were performed in 43 patients with overt OGIB. Seventeen emergency SBEs were performed in 15 patients with active overt-OGIB procedures (group A), which diagnosed the bleeding source in 14: angiodysplasia (n = 5), ulcers/erosions (n = 3), bleeding tumors (gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), n = 3; neuroendocrine tumor, n = 1), and erosioned polyps (n = 2). Endoscopic treatment was performed in nine patients, with one or multiple hemostatic therapies: argon plasma coagulation (n = 5), epinephrine submucosal injection (n = 5), hemostatic clips (n = 3), and polypectomy (n = 2). Twenty-eight patients with inactive bleeding (group B) were submitted to 36 elective SBEs, which successfully diagnosed 18 cases. The diagnostic yield in group A (93.3%) was significantly higher than in group B (64.3%)-Fisher's exact test, p = 0.038. CONCLUSION: This study revealed an important role of emergency SBE in the diagnosis of bleeding etiology in active overt OGIB.