Efficacy and safety analysis of Single Balloon Enteroscopy in a tertiary hospital

Aims Single Balloon Enteroscopy (SBE) stands out as one of the most frequently employed techniques for device-assisted enteroscopy, despite the varying data on its efficacy.

The aim of this study is to analyze the effectiveness and safety of procedures conducted using SBE in a tertiary hospital.

Methods This retrospective study included all patients undergoing SBE at Hospital Clínic between March 2011 and December 2022. Demographic characteristics, indication for the procedure, technical success, diagnostic yield, intervention yield, total exploration time and adverse events (AE) were collected. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 28.0.

Results A total of 687 enteroscopies performed on 493 patients were analyzed (516 antegrade and 171 retrograde; 75.1% and 24.9% respectively). Of the patients, 56% were men, with a mean age of 61.8±18.3 years. The most frequent indication for SBE was prior findings from capsule endoscopy (399 cases, 58.1%). The technical success rate was 98.3% (99.6% anterograde and 94.1% retrograde). The overall diagnostic yield was 80.8% (85.2% anterograde and 67.2% retrograde, p<0.001). Overall intervention yield (therapeutic or biopsies) was 83.5% (88.3% anterograde and 69% retrograde, p<0.001). The mean total exploration time was 70±27.9 min, and the overall AE rate was 2%, with only 3 serious adverse events (SAE) (0.4%).

Conclusions Single Balloon Enteroscopy demonstrates a high technical success and diagnostic yield, maintaining an excellent security profile.

Conflicts of interest

Authors do not have any conflict of interest to disclose.

Publication History

Article published online:
15 April 2024