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. (Gastrointest Endosc 2008;68:1112-6.)