Background: In patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, re-examination with standard upper endoscopes by experienced physicians will identify culprit lesions in a substantial proportion of patients. A common practice is to insert an adult-sized forward-viewing endoscope into the second part of the duodenum. When the endoscope tip enters after the papilla, which is a marker for the descending part of the duodenum, it is difficult to endoscopically judge how far the duodenum has been traversed beyond the second part.
Case summary: We experienced three cases of proximal jejunal masses that were diagnosed by standard upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and confirmed with surgery. The patients visited the hospital with a history of melena; during the initial upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and colonoscopy, the bleeding site was not confirmed. Upper gastrointestinal bleeding was suspected; thus, according to guidelines, upper endoscopy was performed again. A hemorrhagic mass was discovered in the small intestine. The lesion of the first patient was thought to be located in the duodenum when considering the general insertion depth of a typical upper gastrointestinal endoscope; however, during surgery, it was confirmed that it was in the jejunum. After the first case, lesions in the second and third patients were detected at the jejunum by inserting the standard upper endoscope as deep as possible.
Conclusion: The deep insertion of standard endoscopes is useful for the diagnosis of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding.
Keywords: Case report; Esophagogastroduodenoscopy; Jejunal neoplasm; Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding.
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