Utility of Double Balloon Enteroscopy for Surveillance in Intestinal Polyposis Syndromes

Patients with familial polyposis and non-hereditary polyposis syndromes are at increased risk of developing not only colorectal cancer, but also small bowel carcinomas, with up to a 12% lifetime incidence of cancer development. The knowledge of the distribution and features of small bowel polyps in these patients has improved since the introduction of capsule endoscopy (CE) and double balloon enteroscopy (DBE). Although there are few studies which evaluate the results of CE and DBE in patients with polyposis syndromes, it appears that DBE is a more accurate method to detect small bowel polyps, additionally allowing the retrieval of biopsies and polypectomy.