Identification of a Meckel's diverticulum bleeding by urgent capsule endoscopy

A 10 year-old patient was admitted to our hospital due to severe gastrointestinal bleeding. His symptoms included hematochezia and fainting. Neither emergency upper endoscopy nor colonoscopy had identified the site of bleeding. During the colonoscopy they noticed that fresh blood entered the cecum from the ileum. An urgent capsule endoscopy was performed 8 hours after the patient admission. They placed the capsule with specific endoscopic technique into the proximal duodenum under general anesthesia. During 3,5 hours by the small bowel passage the capsule moved to the ileum and a focal bleeding lesion was detected at this site, suggesting the typical picture of bleeding Meckel's diverticulum. The patient was transfused by 1 unit of blood, with a minimum haemoglobin level 95 g/l. By surgery the ulcerated Meckel's diverticulum was identified and resected. Histopathology showed ectopic gastric mucosa. Surgical resection of the diverticulum resulted complete healing of this patient. The capsule endoscopy diagnosis was prompt, precise, and the all examinations were carried out within 24 hours. Involving urgent small bowel capsule endoscopy into the diagnostic workup of the obscure bleeding patient could considerably shorten the time to achieve a correct diagnosis and allowed the early institution of definitive treatment. By this one could spare a great number of costly alternative investigations with low diagnostic yield.