Capsule Endoscopy for the Diagnosis of Suspected Small Bowel Bleeding

Abstract

This review discusses the role of capsule endoscopy in diagnosing suspected small bowel bleeding and compares guidelines of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE), the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG), and the consensus document of 4 Japanese medical societies. European and North American experts recommend capsule endoscopy as a first-line diagnostic modality for suspected small bowel bleeding without life-threatening signs in adult patients when ileocolonoscopy and esophagogastroduodenoscopy failed to be informative. Japanese experts, on the contrary, prefer cross-sectional imaging “from the chest to the pelvis” and consider capsule endoscopy as an alternative.

Keywords

• capsule endoscopy
• gastrointestinal bleeding
• small bowel