Double-balloon Enteroscopy - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages

Double-balloon enteroscopy offers a number of advantages to other small bowel image techniques, including barium imaging, wireless capsule endoscopy and push enteroscopy:

• it allows for visualization of the entire small bowel to the terminal ileum
• it allows for the application of therapeutics
• it allows for the sampling or biopsying of small bowel mucosa, for the resection of polyps of the small bowel, and in the placement of stents or dilatation of strictures of the small bowel.
• it allows for access to the papilla in patients with long afferent limbs after Billroth II antrectomy.

The key disadvantage of double-balloon enteroscopy is the time required to visualize the small bowel; this can exceed three hours, and may require that patients be admitted to hospital for the procedure. There have also been case reports of acute pancreatitis and intestinal necrosis associated with the technique.