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Gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) that occurs beyond the reach of a standard endoscope or in the colon presents a clinical challenge. Enteroscopy (push or balloon) has a variable success record. Videocapsule endoscopy (VCE) can visualize the entire small bowel and guide subsequent therapy but has rarely been assessed for acute bleeding.
To assess the effectiveness of emergency VCE in identifying the source of acute GIB, investigators recruited 88 patients with severe acute GIB without hematemesis or fresh rectal blood. Upper endoscopy identified a bleeding site in 68 patients (77%). In the remaining 20 patients, polyethylene glycol was instilled into the duodenum, the video capsule was placed in the duodenum by endoscopy, the sensor array was …