Evaluation the Performance of Given Diagnostic System in Detection of Bleeding Events in the Small Bowel

Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB) has been one of the most challenging area in the field of gastroenterology, as small bowel is beyond the reach of ordinary endoscopes like oesophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD) and colonoscopy. Thanks for the latest technological advancement for investigating small intestine, we are now capable of obtaining intraluminal images safely through capsule endoscopy (CE). Its role in obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, Crohn's disease and other small bowel pathologies has already been proven, and nowadays it is suggested by various authorities to be the first-line modality among all small bowel investigations.

The investigators group has showed that CE can alter the clinical management of patients with OGIB - patients with negative CE has lower rebleeding rate, and therefore we may adopt a conservative approach for them. Although supported by some other group as well, conflicting results were still reported in the literature about the out-come of these patients. The main criticisms for these studies are that, CE can only identify 61% of the underlying small bowel bleeding pathology, and one can never ascertain the outcome of patients with negative CE examination. Apparently there is still room for improvement in the current CE technology.