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©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 14, 2016; 22(18): 4559-4566
Published online May 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i18.4559
Published online May 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i18.4559
Video capsule endoscopy in left ventricular assist device recipients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding
Surachai Amornsawadwattana, Department of Internal Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
Michael Nassif, David Raymer, Shane LaRue, Division of Cardiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
Chien-Huan Chen, Division of Gastroenterology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
Author contributions: Amornsawadwattana S designed the study, collected and analyzed data and drafted the manuscript; Nassif M, Raymer D and LaRue S provided and collected data and revised the manuscript; Chen CH analyzed data, supervised the study and revised the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Washington University School of Medicine Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: All participants were waived of written informed consent in this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Chien-Huan Chen, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, Campus Box 8124, 660 South Euclid Ave, St Louis, MO 63110, United States. cchen@dom.wustl.edu
Telephone: +1-314-4547813 Fax: +1-314-7475871
Received: December 17, 2015
Peer-review started: December 19, 2015
First decision: January 13, 2016
Revised: February 17, 2016
Accepted: March 13, 2016
Article in press: March 14, 2016
Published online: May 14, 2016
Peer-review started: December 19, 2015
First decision: January 13, 2016
Revised: February 17, 2016
Accepted: March 13, 2016
Article in press: March 14, 2016
Published online: May 14, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB) is a common complication for patients receiving left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Although video capsule endoscopy (VCE) is frequently used to investigate OGIB, there is limited data on the safety and usefulness of VCE in LVAD recipients. We found that VCE can be safely performed in LVAD recipients with OGIB and with a 40% diagnostic yield. However, the results of VCE and the subsequent management driven by VCE did not affect the rate of recurrent GIB. Endoscopic intervention thus should be used judiciously, and alternative ways of management should be considered in LVAD patients with OGIB.