title: Occult inflammatory small-bowel disease: not so occult anymore.
abstract: Four cases are described in which reliance on small-bowel follow-through would have led to an incorrect diagnosis. In all cases, capsule endoscopy resulted in a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease, leading to successful treatment with mesalamine (PENTASA; Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Copenhagen, Denmark) and corresponding reductions in aphthous lesions on repeated capsule endoscopy. Based on our experience and a review of the literature, it is concluded that relying on a negative small-bowel follow-through examination to rule out small-bowel disease would be unfair to patients with suspected small-bowel disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Bikur Cholim Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel. samadler@inter.net.il
authors.forename: Samuel Nathan
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jacob
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D019804:Mesalamine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D019804:Mesalamine