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Double Balloon Endoscopy

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Posted 6/11/2008 2:35 AM (GMT 0)
Is anyone familiar with, or has anyone had this procedure? My doctor told me today that she wants me to have one and I hadn't heard of it until now. Any info anyone has would be greatly appreciated. :-)
Posted 6/11/2008 4:22 AM (GMT 0)
I have had endoscopes before but never heard the words double balloon . The ones I have had were down the throat. Most have letters like EUS, EDU, ERCP and the like. What are they wanting to scope??
Posted 6/11/2008 5:11 AM (GMT 0)
From what my doctor told me, it's a fairly new procedure which allows the whole digestive tract to be viewed in real time. Apparently very few doctors perform the procedure since it's so new, and it's up to the doctor performing the procedure whether he wants to go in from the top or from the bottom. She said she wants me to have it done to confirm that bleeding I'm having is from Crohn's and not from some sort of vasculitis.

Posted 6/11/2008 5:42 AM (GMT 0)
I'm due to have an endoscopy done on June 26 ....and have never heard of the double balloon thing. When is yours due to be done? Hopefully all will go well for you. Please let us know if you find out more about this procedure and how it all went.
Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.
mary
Posted 6/11/2008 12:18 PM (GMT 0)

Courtesy of wikipedia:

The technique involves the use of a balloon at the end of a special enteroscope camera and an overtube, which is a tube that fits over the endoscope, and which is also fitted with a balloon.[2] The procedure is usually done under general anesthesia, but may be done with the use of conscious sedation.[3] The enteroscope and overtube are inserted through the mouth and passed in conventional fashion (that is, as with gastroscopy) into the small bowel.[1] Following this, the endoscope is advanced a small distance in front of the overtube and the balloon at the end is inflated. Using the assistance of friction at the interface of the enteroscope and intestinal wall, the small bowel is accordioned back to the overtube. The overtube balloon is then deployed, and the enteroscope balloon is deflated. The process is then continued until the entire small bowel is visualized.[4]

The double-balloon enteroscope can also be passed in retrograde fashion, through the colon and into the ileum to visualize the end of the small bowel.[1]

Posted 6/11/2008 2:32 PM (GMT 0)
Interesting, I had a regular endoscopy and I was put under and did fine. I did not even have a sore throat afterwards. I guess my Doc did a good job. I would ask the doc more about it if you are curious though. Maybe at least speak with him/her before the procedure. Also don't forget to ask the nurses. they are a big help too. good luck! Karen
Posted 6/11/2008 2:59 PM (GMT 0)
Yup, I read about it several years ago now and was quite interested in it. No one in our area uses it altho I discussed it with my gastro. Our intestines, both small and the colon, are rather like a "slinky" (how else could the good Lord have packed 20 feet of small intestine into the human body?). They've even been working on a similar scope that has little "robot feet" that creeps along like a caterpillar inching thru and folding our intestine behind itself to get thru the entire digestive tract. Again it requires two scopes: first the upper and after the lower - or vice versa - so that, hopefully, the two manage to reach the same "end point".
Posted 6/11/2008 10:43 PM (GMT 0)
I had one last year, and my doc has recently suggested I get another. It really provides more info than ever before for small bowel disease status. And it has the added benefit of stretching out any strictures that it passes through, so it can have immediate anti-partial-obstruction benefits without surgery. The downside i experienced was i felt like i had been beaten up by a gang of thugs for a week after--my guts ached, well beyond the ache before the procedure. I mean, it goes through your entire gut, stretching it out! No surprise it hurts after. It did improve. However, in my case they had to stop the scope before it made it all the way through my SB (this was oral route) because the doc could see such severe inflammation on the scope that he didn't feel it was safe to go further. He tattood a line on the inside of my SB where he stopped, and when I had surgery a couple months later (laparotomy/strictureplasty) the surgeon had to use the tattoo--seen from the outside--as a guide to find the stricture, because a course of Humira had healed the inflammation so well that he couldn't see where to cut...until he saw the tattoo. Priceless, really. I have been ambivalent about doing the second run cuz i already feel so ill that i don't want to deal with the "gang of thugs" effect, but it is truly an incomparable tool for CD.
Posted 6/12/2008 3:12 PM (GMT 0)
Mystery Girl,
I had it done 2 years ago in Philadelphia. It is a relatively new procedure and only a handful of doctors preform it. Basically it is an endoscopy/colonoscopy which ever end your doctors decide to start from. MOst doctors using this new procedure will try to pinpoint where the pain might be and then decide which end to start from (top or bottom). Usually they only go so far and then place a tattooed ink spot where they stopped in your intestine. Reason being so if they can not find anything from that end, when going from the other end they know where to stop. Where do you live? If you are in the Pennsylvania area I can give you a name of a good doctor. Just email me.
Posted 6/13/2008 12:22 AM (GMT 0)
PaulieV! Good to see you finally got a Dx, eh? I've lost track of you the last couple of years. Shortly after your trip to Mayo Clinic in MN. Glad to hear you have found a good gastro! I hope you are doing well.
Posted 6/13/2008 3:52 AM (GMT 0)
I dont want any little robot feet parading up and down my colon. I dont have any tattoos on the outside and dont want any inside either. I really dont like scopes . My GI told me that I have an unusual bend that he does not like to traverse.( Yes C2, I'm kinky) What I think about when I have a scope is an aunt of mine that died as a result of a scope that perforated her bowl. I have strictures and what happens if the little robot stretches a little too much. Hmmmm? No more sniper jokes thats what. ( OK so it could be a perk)..
Posted 6/29/2008 1:19 AM (GMT 0)
I had a double balloon endscopy done yesterday from both ends. They start from the throat and then after they go as far as they can, they tatoo where they stopped to try to see it coming from the large intestine and working into the small. Unfortunately for me, I have a weird curve where the large and small intestine meet so he cannot go in.

I also suffer from sleep apena and thus had a rough experience. I was not out enough so I guess I fought the endoscopy and when they tried to put me out farther, my O2 levels went too low. So they took me up to OR and had me take general anathesia that could control my apena.

In terms of recovery, I am VERY VERY VERY sore. My abdomen feels like I've done 500 sit ups in like 20 minutes. My doctor was very upfront on this procedure. It carries about a 1% chance (currently) of having pancreatitis, perforation of the intestinal wall, heart failure, failure to breath etc. It is an increase risk over normal colonscopy or endoscopy. Like I said, I am very very sore today and wonder if it is natural or if this is pancreatitis.
Posted 6/29/2008 3:35 AM (GMT 0)
WHY would it cause pancreatitis?? That one really confuses me!
Posted 6/29/2008 9:54 PM (GMT 0)
I was told that the movement of the balloons and the endoscopy can cause a strain on the pancreas. The result can be pancreatitis. The bottom of this abstract might help:

http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/abstract_en.asp?f=720&v=14


"The inflammatory changes occurred in the body-tail region of the pancreas, suggesting that post-DBE pancreatitis is caused by repetitive mechanical strain on the pancreas."

I called my doctor last night, (luckily he was on call) and he said I had a very difficult procedure due to my apena and because of my anatomy. The soreness I am feeling is a result of the amount of air that was inserted into my small digestive track. I feel somewhat better today, not as much sharp pain but there is still some there. I think each day will be better. He also said if I had pancreatitis I wouldn't be able to get up or walk around. Now I would like to return to my diet and get rid of the soft foods. No matter what anyone says, this is nothing like a endoscopy or a colonscopy. Like I said, not something I would like to go through again unless I really have to.

[*I just activated the URL - C2]

Post Edited By Moderator (CrohnieToo) : 6/29/2008 5:39:05 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/29/2008 11:41 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the info about the possible pancreas reaction to the DBC. Its understandable the abdominal pains after the DBC. They can't control the stretching of the diameter of the intestine w/the DBC as they can w/the usual scopes.

My first colonoscopy I reacted to the Versed and got agitated and hostile and my gastro had to give up and retract the scope. I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach by a mule for 2-3 days afterwards. Couldn't be helped since I was fighting and threatening to kill anyone and everyone in the general vicinity and my gastro just needed to get that scope OUTTA THERE before I did some real damage to myself.

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