Double balloon enteroscopy: a 3-year experience at a tertiary care center.

Background/aims: To evaluate the indications, diagnostic yield, therapeutic interventions, complications and safety of double balloon enteroscopy (DBE) in clinical practice.

Methodology: The medical records of the patients who underwent DBE at the Turkiye Yuksek Ihtisas Hospital between October 2007 and January 2010 were examined to note the demographic data, indications for the examination, results of previous non-invasive small bowel imaging and endoscopic procedures and the results of DBE including findings, endoscopic interventions, complications and pathological reports.

Results: A total of 139 procedures were performed in 118 patients. DBE was performed 81 times through mouth and 26 times through anus and additionally both approaches were used 16 times in the same patients. Panenteroscopy was successfully performed in 13 of 16 patients (87.5%) in whom it was attempted. The most common indication was obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (28.8%). DBE had an overall diagnostic and/or therapeutic contribution in 63 (53.4%) patients. The main pathologies detected on DBE were polyps (12.7%), infammation (10.7%) and vascular lesions (3.4%). Complications were recognized in four cases (3.4%) but no major complication occured.

Conclusions: Our retrospective analysis showed that DBE is a useful, safe and well-tolerated method with a diagnostic and therapeutic impact for the management of small bowel diseases.