Enteroscopy as a diagnostic method for small bowel neoplasms

Abstract

Neoplasms of the digestive tract are a real challenge for the doctor. Until a few years ago the study of the pathology of the small intestine was carried out through non-invasive methods of indirect vision (intestinal transit, axial computed tomography, nuclear magnetic resonance or scintigraphy) or invasive methods of direct vision that explored the entire small intestine through abdominal surgeries (intraoperative enteroscopy). With the beginning of the Pulse enteroscopy benign or malignant tumors located between the 2nd portion of the duodenum and the ileocecal valve have ceased to be diagnoses attached to procedures with low sensitivity or a high rate of complications. The ease with which enteroscopy can make a histopathological diagnosis through sampling or therapeutic treatment makes it a useful tool for the doctor and the search for tumors of the intestine thin. The present case corresponds to a male patient, 64 years old, known for a diverticular disease, who presents constitutional symptoms that make suspect a neoplasm of the digestive tract; an upper digestive tract endoscopy is performed which is normal, then an Abdominal Computed Tomography that shows a lesion at the level of the 4th portion of the duodenum in which its intra- or extra-luminal origin cannot be established, until an enteroscopy is performed as a diagnostic method