Occult inflammatory small-bowel disease: Not so occult anymore

Four cases are described in which reliance on small-bowel follow-through would have led to an incorrect diagnosis. In all cases, capsule endoscopy resulted in a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease, leading to successful treatment with mesalamine (PENTASA(R); Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Copenhagen, Denmark) and corresponding reductions in aphthous lesions on repeated capsule endoscopy. Based on our experience and a review of the literature, it is concluded that relying on a negative small-bowel follow-through examination to rule out small-bowel disease would be unfair to patients with suspected small-bowel disease.