Small-Bowel Endoscopy

Small-bowel endoscopy is a recent technique that has been recently introduced in pediatric gastroenterology practice. It allows to explore a region previously unreachable by standard digestive endoscopy. Small-bowel endoscopy consists of two different techniques: the wireless capsule endoscopy and the balloon-assisted enteroscopy; there is no evidence that one technique is better than another and their use, combined or alone, has permitted diagnostic and therapeutic advances in small-bowel disease such as inflammatory bowel diseases, obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, vascular malformations, and polyps. In Crohn’s disease, small-bowel endoscopy is fundamental to evaluate the extension and to stage of the disease, and to perform a therapeutic intervention avoiding surgery.