Objective: To study the diagnostic value of double-balloon endoscopy (DBE) for small intestinal diseases.

Methods: 155 patients clinically suspicious of small intestinal diseases were studied. 110 of them were male and 45 female. Their age ranged from 6 to 75 and with an average of 41 years. They consisted of 92 cases of small intestinal hemorrhage, 39 abdominal pain, 7 diarrhoea, 13 abdominal distention, 3 malnutrition and one diarrhoea as well as refractory hypoalbuminemia. In the procedure, the operator manipulated and advanced the endoscope and the assistant helped to advance the over tube.

Results: Among the 155 cases lesions were found in 125 cases, with positive results accounting for 80.6%. These lesions mainly consisted of small intestinal ulcer (including Crohn's disease), chronic inflammation, Meckel's diverticulum, interstizialoma, vascular deformity and carcinoma of small intestine. In 84 of the 92 patients suspicious of intestinal hemorrhage the lesions were confirmed with a positive rate of 91.3%. In 24 of the 39 patients with abdomen pain the etiologies were confirmed with a positive rate of 61.5%. In 16 of the 23 patients with diarrhoea, abdominal distention and malnutrition the positive rate was 69.6%. The cause of the only one case with refractory hypoalbuminemia was confirmed. Among the 155 cases, 9 had lesions located in stomach and duodenum, 115 in small intestine and one in large bowel, no lesion was found in 30 cases. Among the patients, 43 were found to have small intestinal ulcer. In the 43 patients, 12 patients were with single intestinal ulcer and 31 with multiple. For cases of Meckel's diverticulum, interstizialoma, carcinoma, vascular deformity and intestinal adhesion of small intestine in this series, diagnoses made by DBE combined with morphology were completely consistent with those found in operation. However, for ulcer lesions (mainly Crohn's disease), there was diversity in the diagnoses between the two methods, the coincidence was 57.1%. Two patients had complication, one perforation of small intestine and the other acute intestinal stasis.

Conclusions: DBE is efficient and safe for the diagnosis of small intestinal diseases, especially in confirming the lesions. However, for ulcer of small intestine, this method even combined with biopsy is sometimes unable to determine its nature, so surgery may be beneficial in this condition.