Review
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World J Gastrointest Endosc. Oct 16, 2013; 5(10): 476-486
Published online Oct 16, 2013. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v5.i10.476
Enteroscopy in small bowel Crohn’s disease: A review
Benjamin Tharian, Grant Caddy, Tony CK Tham
Benjamin Tharian, Grant Caddy, Tony CK Tham, Division of Gastroenterology, Ulster Hospital, Dundonald BT16 1RH, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Benjamin Tharian, Gastroenterology and General Medicine North West Area Hospital Service, Tasmania 7307, Australia
Author contributions: Tharian B did the bulk of the literature search and wrote the paper; Caddy G and Tham TCK contributed equally to the literature search, structuring the article, writing the text, review of article and editing the manuscript; all authors approved the final version.
Correspondence to: Benjamin Tharian, MBBS, MD, MRCP, Gastroenterology and General Medicine North West Area Hospital Service, Latrobe TAS, Tasmania 7307, Australia. benjamintharian@yahoo.co.in
Telephone: +61-46-7792969 Fax: +61-36-4265687
Received: May 13, 2013
Revised: July 21, 2013
Accepted: September 4, 2013
Published online: October 16, 2013
Processing time: 154 Days and 20.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Management of small bowel Crohn’s disease has reached new frontiers with the recent renaissance of enteroscopy, that has improved diagnosis and enabled therapeutic interventions. The use of magnetic resonance enteroclysis or wireless capsule endoscopy as the first line modality followed by enteroscopy is the most cost effective. Enteroscopy could be achieved using either a push enteroscope or device-assisted enteroscope (DAE). The latter includes double balloon enteroscopy (DBE), single balloon enteroscopy and more recently spiral enteroscopy. All three DAE modalities are comparable, though most favour DBE due to higher rates of total enteroscopy. The article is intended for the general gastroenterologists, non-gastroenterologists and general practitioners