Cápsula endoscópica en el diagnóstico de melanoma metastásico con afectación de intestino delgado

The small bowel involvement is common in cases of melanoma with metastatic spread; in fact, it is affected by more than 30% of autopsies of patients with metastatic melanoma. Clinical manifestations depend on the location and size of metastases, being in the form of bleeding in up to 26% of cases. Early detection of this form of dissemination is important since it may involve a change in the subsequent therapeutic approach. For the diagnosis of gastrointestinal metastases the most commonly used diagnostic techniques are CT, PET and/or capsule endoscopy, the latter being very useful as it allows direct visualization of metastases. In our case, the capsule endoscopy was the technique of choice for the etiologic diagnosis of recurrent bleeding that suffered the patient. Finally we decided to administer palliative chemotherapy, since the spread of the metastases and the infiltration of neighboring tissues.