The safety and diagnostic value of double balloon enteroscope in elderly patients / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the safety,diagnostic value and clinical impact of double balloon enteroscope (DBE) in elderly patients (aged ≥75 years).Methods Clinical data and DBE findings of elderly patients in the Department of Gastroenterology in Remin Hospital of Wuhan University from January 2010 to January 2013 were retrospectively analyzed and compared with those of younger patients.Results The diagnostic rate,complication rate and clinical impact rate were 69.0％ (29/42),0％ (0/42) and 76.2％ (32/42) in elderly patients.There were no statistically significant differences on those parameters between elderly patients and younger patients (all P＞0.05).For elderly patients,the leading causes of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB) were tumor (30.0 ％,9/30) and ulcer (16.7 ％,5/30),while angiectasis (6.7 ％,2/30) was uncommon.Conclusions DBE is an effective and safe method for diagnosis of small bowel disease in elderly patients.Tumor is the most common cause of OGIB,while angiectasis was uncommon.