ABSTRACT
Clinical data of 83 patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB) undergoing capsule endoscopy were reviewed retrospectively.The results showed that the overall detection rate of gastrointestinal lesions for OGIB by capsule endoscopy was 81.9％ (68/83), most lesions (77. 1％, 64/83 )were located in small intestine. Of all the small intestinal lesions, arteriovenous malformation (AVM) was the most common (22 cases, 26.5％ ),followed by small intestinal space-occupying lesion (18 cases,21.7％ ) and single or multiple ulcers of small intestine ( 16 cases, 19. 3％ ). Four cases (4. 8％ ) had lesions outside of the small intestine. Small intestinal AVM was the leading cause of OGIB in patients ＞ 50 y,space-occupying lesion was the most common in patients aged 30 -50 y, while ulcer was the leading cause in patients ＜ 30 y. Bowel obstruction was not found in this group of patients. The results indicate that capsule endoscopy has great diagnostic value in detecting causes of OGIB. Small intestinal AVM is the most common cause of OGIB, followed by space-occupying lesion and ulcer.