INTRAOPERATIVE ENTEROSCOPY IN OBSCURE GASTROINTESTINAL HEMORRHAGE

Forty three patients were diagnosed to have obscure gastrointestinal h emorrhage (OGH) between January 1987 and April 1996. Pre-operative dia gnostic investigations were useful in localizing the site of bleeding in 28 patients (65.1%). These included small bowel enema (n=12), eryth rocyte tagged scan (n=8), Meckel's scan (n=2) and selective visceral a ngiography (n=7). Following complete evaluation all patients underwent exploratory laparotomy. At laparotomy 31 patients were found to have gross lesions. Intraoperative enteroscopy (IOE) could detect lesions i n 9 of the remaining 12 patients.