Detection of surgical lesions of the small bowel by enteroclysis.

Enteroclysis is an examination in which barium is infused directly into the small intestine, and compression radiographs are taken on each segment. This method eliminates many of the inherent limitations of the conventional small bowel follow-through examination. This report concerns 45 patients with 48 small bowel lesions. They were missed on the conventional examination but detected within 3 months by subsequent enteroclysis and confirmed surgically. There were 15 patients with Meckel's diverticula, 7 with obstructive adhesive bands, 5 with Crohn's disease, 5 with blind pouch syndrome (1 with a leiomyoma inside the blind pouch), 2 with other leiomyomas, 3 with metastatic carcinoma, two with primary carcinoma 3 with radiation stricture, two with sinus tract lesions and fistulas, and 1 with another lesion. Improved intubation techniques and better barium mixtures make enteroclysis possible in most hospitals. As surgeons appreciate the value of enteroclysis, they can request this examination for appropriate patients to sooner find many surgical lesions of the small bowel which frequently go undiagnosed.