title: Usefulness of double-balloon endoscopy in the diagnosis of malignant small-bowel tumors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Double-balloon endoscopy (DBE) enables endoscopic and histopathologic diagnosis of malignant small-bowel tumors (MSBT). This study examined the clinical features of patients with MSBT and evaluated the usefulness of DBE in the diagnosis of MSBT.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively examined consecutive DBE studies of 358 patients who underwent DBE in our hospital between December 2003 and October 2007 because of suspected or established small-bowel disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fourteen patients with MSBT were diagnosed by DBE. The most common type was primary adenocarcinoma (8 patients), followed by metastatic carcinoma (3 patients) and malignant lymphoma (3 patients). Half of these patients presented with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB). Histopathologic diagnosis was obtained in 11 of 14 patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Of 180 patients with OGIB, MSBT accounted for only 3.9%, however, 50% of patients with MSBT presented with OGIB. OGIB is an important clinical feature of small-bowel malignancy, which can be diagnosed by DBE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Abeno-ku, Osaka, Japan. yamagami@med.osaka-cu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamagami
authors.forename: Nobuhide
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oshitani
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hosomi
authors.forename: Takehisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suekane
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kamata
authors.forename: Mitsue
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sogawa
authors.forename: Hirotoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okazaki
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Kazunari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tominaga
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arakawa
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007414:Intestinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000473:pathology*; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies