Clinical evaluation of a newly developed single-balloon enteroscope

Background Double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) is a useful and epoch-making technique for small-bowel diseases. The single-balloon enteroscope (SBE) is a new instrument introduced by Olympus. Objective To evaluate a prototype of the SBE. Design A prospective case series. Setting Kyoto Second Red Cross Hospital, between April 2006 and July 2007. Patients We used the SBE system to perform 37 enteroscopic examinations on 27 patients, including 22 oral and 15 anal approaches. Main Outcome Measurements The rate of whole small-bowel visualization, mean time necessary for the investigation, discovery rate of lesions, and complications. Results We observed the entire small intestine in 1 of 8 cases (12.5%) that we examined. The mean (±SD) time necessary for the oral approach was 83 ± 38 minutes and that for the anal approach was 90 ± 32 minutes. The preparation time was less than 5 minutes in both approaches. Small-intestinal lesions were detected in 11 of the 27 patients (40.7%). Perforation occurred in one case as a complication, but the injury healed without surgical intervention. Limitation This was a single-center study. Conclusions Use of the SBE system in the endoscopic study of the small intestine makes it possible to observe the entire small intestine and to diagnose lesions; thus, the SBE system is a useful instrument for small-bowel diseases. However, the rate of whole small-bowel visualization was inferior to the DBE system.