Clinical value of capsule endoscopy in obscure gastrointestinal bleeding

Abstract

To investigate clinical diagnostic value of capsule endoscopy in obscure gastrointestinal bleeding. Capsule endoscopy were performed in 90 patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, which was defined as negative finding by gastroscopy and colonoscopy in our hospital. In 90 patients, 2 of them accepted second examination. Eighty-seven of 92 (94.57%) patients accepted of capsule endoscopy successfully including 21 of 25 (84.0%) in group of acute massive bleeding and 66 of 67 (98.51%) in recurrent melena (P <0.05). In above patients, 74 of 87 (85.06%) had positive findings and the false negative rate was 17.24%. The detectable rate in acute massive bleeding and recurrent melena was 80.95% and 86.36%, respectively (P >0.05), and the false negative rate of that was 23.81% and 15.15%, respectively (P >0.05). Capsule endoscopy can be performed safely and well-toleratedly for visualizing the small bowel in patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, which induces a highly detectable rate compared with other methods for detecting obscure gastrointestinal bleeding.