Efficacy study of the small-bowel examination.

Abstract

A retrospective analysis of 1020 conventional [human] antegrade small-bowel examinations is presented. The variable which correlated most highly with abnormal radiographic findings was apparently the clinical complex of history, physical examination and laboratory data which prompted suspicion of small bowel disease. Thirty indications of possible small-bowel disease were divided into groups carrying a high suspicion and a low suspicion of disease. Pertinent abnormalities were revealed by 14.2% of examinations in the high-suspicion group, compared with 4.9% in the low-suspicion group. The individual indications covered a spectrum of 0-34% abnormality. Overall, 9.7% of examinations (99/1020) revealed abnormalities, but only 6.6% (67/1020) were pertinent to the clinical problems. The efficacy of the small-bowel series is evidently directly dependent upon the reason(s) for which it is performed.