Capsule Endoscopy for Risk Stratification in Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Capsule endoscopy can identify low-risk patients only if the duodenum is visualized, and it may delay urgent endoscopy in patients with severe bleeding.

Many patients with acute, nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) have a low risk for rebleeding and can be safely treated as outpatients. Other patients have endoscopic stigmata for rebleeding that should be treated at the time of endoscopy (EGD). Several scoring systems have been developed to identify low-risk patients for whom endoscopic evaluation may be delayed (JW Gastroenterol Feb 22 2013), and now, esophageal capsule endoscopy (CE) has been evaluated for this purpose.

Investigators prospectively assessed 83 consecutive patients who presented with symptoms of UGIB at three hospitals in Australia. All patients underwent CE followed by inpatient EGD within 24 hours. For both procedures, lesions were classified as low-risk or …

Reviewing Author

David J. Bjorkman, MD, MSPH (HSA), SM (Epid.)

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

David J. Bjorkman, MD, MSPH (HSA), SM (Epid.)

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose