HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Double Baloon Endoscopy???

Support Forums
>
Crohn's Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 4/27/2009 3:04 AM (GMT 0)
Hi all. I am still in the quest for a diagnosis. I got the results back from my pillcam study and it showed "mild blunted villi"...though I tested negative for celiac. And several small ulcers with erythema and inflammation in my Duodenum, and throughout the top half of my small bowel. Also, some mild gastritis, which I have been throwing up lots so he wasn't sure if that may have caused it. The pill cam got stuck a few hours in so we didn't get to see the entire small bowel. I passed it a week later, but he wasn't sure why it stopped.

Now I am scheduled for more blood work and and EGD.

He is also sending me to Mayo Clinic for a double balloon endoscopy. Any one out there had one of these?
Posted 4/27/2009 12:54 PM (GMT 0)
I have not had one but it was mentioned as a possibility if my insurance didn't approve the Promethius IBD Serology 7 test, which they did approve. Sorry...not much help here, but it does sound like a really good diagnostic procedure.
Posted 4/27/2009 3:12 PM (GMT 0)
My doc has suggested that procedure for me also. I guess I need insurance company approval for both the blood test and the ballon endoscope. My first test for IBD-7 was tested for only four markers, now I have go back and do all the reminder 3 markers. But, then the insurance company has to approve it again. I also have discrete ulceration in several locations of the small bowels including the jujenum. they discovered this via CT enterography. I will follow-up soon and get back, when I get information. Please share your experience of Ballon Endoscope.

Best wishes
Posted 4/27/2009 3:23 PM (GMT 0)

Iram said...
My doc has suggested that procedure for me also. I guess I need insurance company approval for both the blood test and the ballon endoscope. My first test for IBD-7 was tested for only four markers, now I have go back and do all the reminder 3 markers. But, then the insurance company has to approve it again. I also have discrete ulceration in several locations of the small bowels including the jujenum. they discovered this via CT enterography. I will follow-up soon and get back, when I get information. Please share your experience of Ballon Endoscope.

Best wishes

Good morning Iram i have a few questions for you if you don't mind first what is a ballon endoscope and second what is the IBD-7 test i live in Canada and never heard of either one of them could you please explain them to me maybe they don't even have them here yet that wouldn't surprise me in the least? Jenn yeah
Posted 4/27/2009 3:58 PM (GMT 0)
That double balloon deal is a new scope procedure that a few centers are offering. It involves a balloon that inflates and a sleeve over the scope that allows the doc to basically walk the scope all the way through the upper GI tract one step at a time. My understanding is it can b done from either end but that mouth/stomach.small bowel is the preferred route. Not had it done but I would not be surprised if it si fairly time consuming and expensive. But it does allow a leisurely examination and the taking of biopsies, which the pill cam does not.

Posted 4/27/2009 5:55 PM (GMT 0)
Yup, MikeB has explained it pretty well. There is also the double-approach--two surgeons can approach the same area from oral or the rectal route. This procedure is not just diagnostic, but also used to pump and expand strictured areas of the small bowels, reducing the need for surgery. Besides it also allows them to see the small bowels clearly and determine the type of treatment options. Inks can be used mark areas for for further treatment or surgery. I am glad to hear you got approved for this, most insurance companies in the US generally don't allow for this easily. You will be under general anesthesia when this procedure is being performed and may require overnight hospital stay.

IBD-7 is a blood test for serological markers of UC and CD. This again tell us the GI what type of UC or CD one has.

Hope this gives you some relief and start feeling better.
Posted 4/30/2009 12:54 AM (GMT 0)

Hi, I had the Double Balloon Endoscopy done at the Mayo in Scottsdale, AZ, in 2006.  At that time it was quite new there and they were able to go through the mouth farther than I had had an endoscopy go before, but still not as far as they had hoped.  I was under general anethesia and was well taken care of.  I went home later in the day, and then I had to reschedule the procedure for the rectal approach.  I did that approach several months later, and again they were unable to go as far as they had hoped, so the entire digestive system had not been visualized as they thought they could. 

I am willing to go through it again if they are able to see the entire length, at least into the area of the illium where my problems seem to be at their worst.

Dr. Leighton did the scope and he is well known for his work in this area.

I hope this helps you a bit, and good luck if you decide to go through with the DBE.

Anne 

Posted 4/30/2009 1:05 AM (GMT 0)
I don't know which Mayo Clinic you would be going to: Rochester, MN, Jacksonville, FL or Scottsdale, AZ. My experience has been at Mayo, Rochester. You couldn't be going to a better place for Dx'ing Crohn's or finding the involved areas!!!!
Posted 4/30/2009 5:24 PM (GMT 0)
My understanding of double-balloon push enteroscope is that it is not just a diagnostic procedure, but also a treatment option, it allows for the expansion of narrowed areas of small bowels avoiding the need for surgery. AKTeach did you feel better after this procedure? Where you able to get a definitive word as to what area your problem is in?
Posted 5/1/2009 3:09 AM (GMT 0)

To Iram:  No I did not get a definitive answer.  They were unable to visualize all of the bowel, so some areas are still in question.  I would like to know if after several years they have made progress and are able to see the entire length of the bowel.  I was glad I went, because it did show where my resection was done, some inflamation at the site and some thickening of the wall at the site, and so far that is the only test that has reached my old anastomosis, even the last pill cam was unable to show the area because the camera tumbled in that area the last 20% of my small bowel!!!

Posted 5/1/2009 4:21 AM (GMT 0)
I am going to Mayo in Jacksonville, FL if they will take me! They are supposed to review my chart and decide. Fingers crossed they will take me.
Posted 5/2/2009 6:41 AM (GMT 0)

Iram said...
Yup, MikeB has explained it pretty well. There is also the double-approach--two surgeons can approach the same area from oral or the rectal route. This procedure is not just diagnostic, but also used to pump and expand strictured areas of the small bowels, reducing the need for surgery. Besides it also allows them to see the small bowels clearly and determine the type of treatment options. Inks can be used mark areas for for further treatment or surgery. I am glad to hear you got approved for this, most insurance companies in the US generally don't allow for this easily. You will be under general anesthesia when this procedure is being performed and may require overnight hospital stay.

IBD-7 is a blood test for serological markers of UC and CD. This again tell us the GI what type of UC or CD one has.

Hope this gives you some relief and start feeling better.

First thanks Mike and second Iram i wonder if they have this in Canada yet i have a narrowing right now getting my scope the end of the month,i don't have enough bowel left to re-sect but they said if it was in fact just a narrowing part of the bowel than they could put in a stint but this sounds great to me i wasn't approved for it though i must have wrote it down wrong i added to the post cause i never heard of them before,but one of the high lights of living in Canada is are medical care is free all my MEDS and all the tests and procedure's i'm so thank full for that other wise i couldn't afford to live my MEDS would run me a couple of grand a month anyway.Its 3:38am still up in alot of pain i got my port a cafe put in today and its really sore but i lost my central line 2 weeks ago and missed alot of my IV MEDS so i start them back up on Monday i hope i feel better by than. Thanks again Iram. Your Friend Jenn sad sad sad

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply