Push enteroscopy in a UK district general hospital: experience of 51 cases over 2 years.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the number of patients referred for enteroscopy in a district general hospital (DGH), the indication, enteroscopic +/- histological diagnosis, and to compare findings with other series from tertiary referral centres or outside the UK.


METHODS
Retrospective case series over a 2-year period.


RESULTS
In the 2-year period, 52 patients were referred for enteroscopy. All except one underwent enteroscopy. The mean age of the patients was 60 years (range 31-84 years). The main indications for enteroscopy were obscure gastrointestinal haemorrhage in 31 (61%) patients (19 with acute and 12 with chronic bleeding) and 7 (14%) patients with arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) on initial oesophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD). Other indications included clinical deterioration in known coeliac disease in four (8%) patients and abnormal small-bowel follow-through in five (10%) patients. More than half (51%) of the enteroscopies were reported as abnormal, but 10 (38%) had pathology in the stomach or first part of the duodenum (D1) not diagnosed on initial OGD. Diagnoses of two T-cell lymphomas and one of pre-lymphomatous monoclonal T-cell proliferation were made in the refractory coeliac disease group.


CONCLUSIONS
Indications (obscure gastrointestinal bleeding), most frequent findings (small-bowel AVMs), and 'missed' lesions within reach of a gastroscope (20%) were in keeping with other series. Enteroscopy is a useful tool in investigating patients with refractory coeliac disease. Its value in investigating patients with abnormal small-bowel radiology was not confirmed. The current need for push enteroscopy in a DGH is small (approximately 1 per 8000 population per year), but it would take only small changes in referral practice to escalate. Criteria for enteroscopy should be developed and refined with improving knowledge of the diagnostic yield for each indication and clinical outcome.
Parry
Sally D
SD
Northumbria Division, University of Newcastle, Faculty of Medicine, North Tyneside Hospital, North Shields, UK. sally.parry@ncl.ac.uk
Welfare
Mark R
MR
Cobden
Irving
I
Barton
J Roger
JR
D016145:Endoscopy, Digestive System; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal / Q000379:methods; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D006767:Hospitals, District; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012189:Retrospective Studies