Clinical application of wireless capsule endoscopy in the diagnosis of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding in the elderly / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of capsule endoscopy(CE) in a large cohort of the elderly patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding(OGIB). Methods The demographic, clinical and diagnostic data of all geriatric patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding who underwent CE between May 2002 and February 2007 were retrospectively analyzed. For comparison, non-geriatric patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding who underwent CE during the same period were selected as the control group. Results Ninety-seven geriatric patients [40men/57 women, mean age (70.84-6.8) yrs]and ninety-nine non-geriatric patients [61 men/38women, mean age (44. 4±10. 3) yrs)were retrospectively reviewed. Eighty-nine patients presented with overt OGIB while eight patients had occult OGIB in the geriatric group. The section in the nongeriatric group was ninety-one and eight respectively. No significance was seen in the gastric transit time, completion rate and delay rate between two groups. The small bowel transit time was significantly longer in the geriatric group than that in the non-geriatric group (P<0. 05). Sixty-two patients in the geriatric group obtained positive diagnosis and angiodysplasia was the most frequent lesion;while sixty-seven patients in the non-geriatric group obtained positive diagnosis and Crohn's disease was the most frequent lesion. No significance was seen in the positive diagnostic rate between two groups (P>0. 05). However, the constituent ratio of the positive diagnosis was significantly different between two groups (P<0. 01). Conclusions CE is a safe and effective procedure for geriatric patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding. Angioectasia accounts for the majority of positive findings in geriatric group.